


13 Faults

by its_simply_me



Category: Boku no Hero Academia
Genre: Eventual Romance, F/M, Friendship, I have no idea what I'm doing, Romance, Slow Burn, Slow Romance, When Bakugo blows up random shit, but it sure as heck is fun
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-07-24
Updated: 2017-08-15
Packaged: 2018-12-06 10:04:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 33,298
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11598351
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/its_simply_me/pseuds/its_simply_me
Summary: It started off as a simple question: "How does it feel to win?"If Yaoyorozu knew what would follow was a spiraling whirlwind of unexpected friendships, with quirks of ice and fire, everlasting memories and disturbing secrets, enough to change everything she ever knew, would she still do it?Without a second's hesitation.Eventual TodoMomo.





	1. The First Fault

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This story is also available under the same name on Fanfiction.net
> 
> A/N: Welcome kind stranger, and thank you for giving this first chapter a glance! I've always wanted to write one of these stories; the ones where it takes its time getting the characters together, yet slowly, gradually and surely it starts to happen, so by the end you really feel it, and it really means something.
> 
> I wouldn't say Todoroki and Yaoyorozu are an OTP of mine, but man do they look hot together xD I feel like it's a relationship that's lightly hinted at, but it will never be acted upon, simply because that's not what BnHA is about. And that's perfectly fine; what are fanfics for after all? But given how little there is for them in canon, writing just a one-shot for them would either result in it not being romance, or it being very long to properly flesh out any sort of character development.
> 
> So instead of doing a really long one-shot, why not have a full blown story? The story itself is going to be a bit different. It will be chronological, but there may be gaps of a month or two between some later chapters. Gotta give time for the relationship to marinate, if you will ;P
> 
> Also there aren't any spoilers for the manga/anime (maybe minor spoilers, like where a character was at one point) and as I'm an anime only viewer, I've tried following the canon timeline as much as possible, though I may ask manga viewers questions from time to time, just to have things be as believable as possible.
> 
> Now my history with chapter stories is absolutely abysmal. But I'm a fair way into this one, and I know pretty much where I'm going with it. So I feel pretty optimistic. I realize this is a couple not so widely clicked on and hence support will be low, but I need that encouragement people! Through reviews ;D
> 
> Now, begin!
> 
> Disclaimer: I do not own the characters, manga, or any related official work. I am but a measly fanfic writer leeching off someone else's hard work. Let this disclaimer work for the entire story, because I do not wish to repeat it every chapter. Cover picture by the talented hinata-ryo on tumblr!
> 
> Also, I haven't bothered going back and quoting the dialogues word for word (too lazy). So do me a favor and imagine they're exactly the same :D

 

* * *

**The First Fault**

' _No!'_

The crowd cheered, the screams of thousands blurring in her ears, grinding at her brain like white noise.

' _No! No! No!'_

The match had only just started. There was no way. She was Momo Yaoyorozu, she was levels above the rest, she was a recommendation, people  _believed_ in her ability as much as she did herself. This...this reality was... An impossibility.

" _Momo is out of bounds! Fumikage Tokoyami wins the match!"_

Her eyes blinked unseeingly at her shoes, brand new, exhaustively chosen and modified by her, the perfect grip, the perfect pedal arch, the perfect sole. Supreme shoes. For a supreme hero. Shoes that were currently stood hardly an inch behind the line.

An inch.

Her grip was still tight on her rod, her brain alert, gears still whirring through the different possibilities of winning the match. There was no way it was already over, before she even had a chance to  _start any of them_.

"I hope I didn't hurt you."

She looked up. Tokoyami had walked over to offer sportsmanship-ly condolences.

Her mind ground to a halt.  _'Hurt me...?_ '

Incredible. That was how little a threat she had posed to him. 'Winning was in the bag, let's try winning without injuring the poor, helpless girl.' And suddenly, she was filled with rage.

"Barely felt it."

And she left.

* * *

The match between Todoroki and Midoriya was the first one that interested her enough to get her to rise out of her depression. Her eyes locked onto the half-and-half redhead and she instantly and unashamedly knew who she was rooting for; Midoriya.

Todoroki was a fellow scholarship student, and as her male counterpart, she felt like the comparison people made between them was only natural. They fell into the same category, so it only made sense to compare the two of them with each other. She'd never really minded this much. She had enough faith in herself and her abilities to know she'd never under-perform to the extent where people would start to doubt why she was there.

Until now.

So, in a state of blind self-pity, she prayed Todoroki would lose, just as she had, if only to help her save face. And she was fairly confident he would lose as well. From the little she had observed, Midoriya was equipped with a very powerful quirk capable of blowing anything away. Although the repercussion was him breaking a finger, and that would be enough to stop an average person from trying their hardest, she was also fairly confident in her deduction that he cared more about winning than he did his own well-being.

Another reason she was so confident was because Todoroki was so adamant on not using the other half of his quirk. She'd asked him, once, that if he shot ice out of his white half, did he ooze magma or something from his red one? Of course, she'd received a frosty glare (a look that could freeze hell itself over, so to speak), which was answer enough. But just to make sure, she brought it up again during the tag team round, where she suggested using heat and ice to create several advantages, fog screens and the like.

"I only use ice. I leave the minor details to you."

And although she could have taken that as a compliment, she knew what he'd meant to say was 'Don't ask me again.' The message got through to her loud and clear; he didn't use his left side. A massive handicap she was sure would be his downfall.

Five minutes into the match, and on the edge of her seat, things were progressing as she had anticipated. Although Midoriya had taken far more damage than she'd calculated, Mr Ice-Only wasn't doing any better. He was holding his dominant hand too stiff and mist formed whenever he exhaled; the cold was getting to him. But every time she was sure Midoriya had him flying off stage, Todoroki would throw up a frozen wall, catching himself just in time.

Still. She slumped back in her seat and turned her eyes skyward. He was good. Too good. He had sharp instincts and thought on his feet. Even if he lost, he'd put on an incredibly good appeal, flashy and powerful. And it was only half his strength. He could lose and still hold his head high.  _'Dammit.'_ She cursed internally.  _'I guess that's what you get for praying for another's failure._ '

A roar of flaming intensity drew her vision back to the battlefield.  _'Wha-?!'_

Flames had erupted over half of Todoroki's body. Her jaw dropped. How...how could this be? She had him pegged! She  _knew_ he'd never use his fire side, she was  _certain_ of it! What had  _happened?_

And then the air within the stadium exploded.

* * *

She felt sick.

Maybe it was the sudden changing of extreme temperatures, or the hot winds or the eruptive noises. But whatever it was, she suddenly felt suffocated, trapped between her classmates in the bleachers, a massive headache building in the back of her brain. She needed space.

And so it was as she was walking around the inner hallways of the stadium that she saw Todoroki. He looked like the worse side of exhausted, his walk hardly better than a tired shuffle, the left side of his shirt burnt through, mouth pulled in a tight frown, eyes half-lidded and weary as he stared at the ground. She watched him for a while.

He really was incredible. The air around him smelt of ash and mist, like flavored, minty oxygen. It was neither good nor bad; it just smelt like power. He was grades above impressive just using his ice quirk. Add to that fire? It made him… She looked at him, hard, studying his eyes especially, the heterochromia of his irises unnervingly sharp and vivid. He was unique in every possible way.

It made him powerful.

It made him stand out.

It made her  _jealous._

"Congrats on the win." She heard herself say. He gave a slight jerk at the sudden interruption of his thoughts, still a few meters away. He looked up.

"Yaoyorozu. Thanks."

And that was it. He started walking again.

"How does it feel to win?" she asked, voice quiet. He answered without stopping.

"…Exhilerating."

It was the way he said it. It was like someone had clenched an iron fist around her heart. Losing  _hurt._ She felt lower now; inadequate. Before, there was a mutual level of respect between them. An understanding she had always held sacred, a feeling she had tucked away in her private little corner. But now…now he didn't even deem her worthy to stop for. She grit her teeth. She'd get that back.

It wasn't  _fair._ That should have been  _her,_ mentally exhausted yet thoroughly satisfied with a victory.  _Why_ was she not still competing? How could she have let this happen? And suddenly, whatever emotion was bubbling in the pit of her stomach roared to life.

"I wasn't expecting you to win."

He stopped. Her heart gave a joyous beat at the minuscule victory.

He arched a silver eyebrow at her. "No?"

"No. Ice was never enough against Midoriya."

To her surprise, he let out a breath of laughter. She didn't think she'd ever seen him smile, let alone laugh. If it could be called that. Must be the adrenaline. ' _What winning a difficult match does to you…'_  she thought wryly.

"I suppose the only fool here was me."

What was he  _talking_ about? Playing it humble? He should be arrogant. He should be flaunting his strength, and talking up his power. She would've been. Maybe he didn't find her worth opening up to. Maybe he'd never deemed her a rival, or his caliber. Maybe it was only ever her… maybe he'd never even noticed her...

She paused, letting the ridiculously false doubts plague her mind, long enough for him to notice her silence. He said nothing, but she could feel his calculating gaze pass over her.

"What did he say to you?" she asked softly.

His gaze hardened for a fraction of a second. "Who?"

"Midoriya." And just like that, his relaxed, emotionless stare was back. Her mind wasn't in a state to notice or process his strange transition of expression. She didn't know even know why she was having this conversation in the first place. "Did he say something to get you to use your left side?"

Perhaps she wanted to know what she'd done wrong. Maybe she wanted to know what it took to get Todoroki to open up- But no, that wasn't it. She didn't care about Todoroki opening up to her. Hadn't her entire issue been her feeling jealous of him  _winning_ , not him  _opening up_  to  _Midoriya?_  She shoved that confusion aside.

This was all because she wanted to see if there was any saving grace in this for her. Perhaps Todoroki had a fault. Perhaps he'd been tricked. Maybe he was weak willed, or simple-minded or even brainwashed. And  _she'd_ be the one to figure it out. She mentally laughed at her far-fetched ideas.

His eyes left hers in thought. "I suppose he did. But he didn't really." She resisted rolling her eyes at the cryptic words. "It was something I already knew, but forgot. Like I said, I was being a fool." He looked back at her to see her unimpressed expression. His mouth gave an upwards twitch, like it was trying to smile but didn't know how.

"'Was a fool'." Momo repeated. "But no longer are. More like the double-quirk prodigy." His eyebrows furrowed, not really sure what to make of her contradicting words and tone. "How wonderful for you. Truly. Your future is practically guaranteed."

His eyebrows furrowed at this, mouth pulled in a tiny frown.

"Investors will be clamoring at your door now, mark my words." She carried on. "Requests for ads, for sponsors, openings for being a sidekick,-"

"You're making fun of me." He commented.

"Au contraire. I'm stating facts. Agencies will be mailing you forms for months in hopes that you'll join. The son of Endeavor! The double quirk prodigy! The best of the recommended students of U.A. High! No one else came close! In a class of such potential, there was but one!"

"So that's what this is about." His dry statement cut her short. She blinked.

"Huh?"

"Your match. You losing." She stared at him, quite honestly shocked. But he wasn't done. "I have to say, I definitely wasn't expecting that. Someone like you should have made it a battle of the mind. It should have lasted at the very least 10 minutes." She inwardly cursed and roughly folded her arms, looking anywhere but him.

She scoffed. "High praise."

"13 faults. That's how many I counted."

She raised her head to lock eyes with him. His eyes swirled with sharp intensity, which were, for the first time since this conversation began, alert. He had been watching. He had not only watched her match, but he had analyzed it. Her heart lightened.

"And what does that mean?" she asked, voice low.

"You were recommended into U.A. for your brains. Try figuring it out." He turned to leave before she could say anything. "I'll talk to you later Yaoyorozu. It's uncomfortable talking to someone with half a shirt on."

And that's how he left her, face burning, like he'd set it on fire.

* * *

She didn't get the opportunity to press him further anytime soon. When she cornered him next, it was days later, back in the classroom at U.A.

She slammed a pile of papers onto his desk. He blinked at them in surprise, then turned his bewildered gaze up at her.

"I've spent  _days_ on this Todoroki." She said, almost breathless, with a touch of insanity in her voice. "So far, though, I've only counted four, and even then, they're long-shots. For example, if I had attached springs here, maybe I could have jumped high enough to avoid that first shove. But then, Tokoyami's Shadow Beast is quick enough to have reacted almost instantly and still landed a hit.

"And here, I suppose instead of creating a shield, I could have gone with an arm guard instead. It would have been faster to create, and the surface area would have been far less and probably wouldn't have pushed me back as far since the force would have been much less. Honestly, this one pisses me off the most; I can't believe I didn't do that.

"If I had created a blade instead, that could have helped. I admit I need more long range weapons in my arsenal, but most are too complicated to create on the spot-"

She looked over at him for the first time since starting her tirade. He was staring at her like he'd never seen her before. It could only be described as shock, but Todoroki Shouto wasn't really the 'shocked expression' type. His brows didn't rise up, but his eyes widened. His lips parted ever so slightly to show off a glint of white teeth – the Todoroki Shouto version of a jawdrop, she assumed. All this made for quite an intense look.

"What?" she asked hesitantly.

"None of this is what I was talking about."

"Huh?!"

"But honestly," he ran his thumb over the side of the modestly sized pile. "If you've come up with this many mistakes, then I don't see the problem." He flipped through the pages. He let out a snort. "Complete with diagrams." He said under his breath.

She snatched her project away from his unappreciative, judgmental hands.

"I don't fully understand the roots of your power, and the extent to which you can take it." He clarified. "I assumed you'd understand the weaknesses and areas of improvements of your quirk yourself. Better than anybody."

She crossed her arms, papers hugged tightly to her chest. "Still you counted  _13_ mistakes?" she felt her heart drop. She was so sure he'd been talking about her choice of weaponry. "What were you talking about then?"

"Faults, not mistakes. Faults are what one describes an error in form or stance. What astounded me was the simplicity of each one. Anyone could have made them." Her brows furrowed at the stab at her abilities. She opened her mouth to remind him she was, indeed, 'anyone', but he continued. "Things that anyone can afford to make, but as students admitted by scholarship,  _we_  can't. Even if the rest of the class doesn't really perform, they've still proven themselves at the entrance exam. We have to grab whatever opportunity we get. They have a head start. And still, hardly anyone at U.A. makes faults like this."

Momo felt her throat tighten at this. So not only was she not the level at which a recommendation student should be performing, but she was below the average U.A. teen as well. Why had she ever been chosen in the first place?

"But hearing your ideas, I have a feeling the reason why you have never really taken this into account is because you rely so heavily on your quirk." He had leaned back in thought, and was talking as if to himself. His thumb drummed aimlessly against the surface of his desk. "I mean, to see you improve and dissect on only your quirk where other areas are so clearly at fault – clearly this is the center of everything you stand by."

"Everyone's like that." She interjected. He gave her a sidelong look. "Everyone focuses only on their quirk."

"They don't." Her teeth grit at his complete rebuttal. "Most people's abilities lie in their body able to physically support or compensate for their quirk. The only exceptions are probably you and Uraraka. Possibly Tokoyami. You all could use your quirks regardless of the weakness of your body. My tolerance ability would be very much lower if I didn't follow strict protocol. In hindsight, Tokoyami was a very bad matchup for you, someone so slow to act."

She glared at him. Of course he'd break everything down this way. Why had she even bothered coming to  _him_ of all people. She was pulled back to attention as Todoroki motioned for her to give him her wad of notes. Her arms tightened her grip around them possessively.

She narrowed her eyes at him suspiciously.

He gave her a deadpanned stare.

She sighed and handed them over. After shooting her an irately quizzical look, he pointed to a diagram on the first page and she leaned forward to better see. It was a bird's eye view of the first action, Tokoyami's Beast slamming into her.

"Here," he said. "Anyone's natural instinct would be to jump. But instead, you defended."

"Well of course! If I'd jumped, the beast would have just swatted me out of bounds midair."

"Then mid-air you would design something to help you. To fall slower, or to angle the way you were thrown. Just suggestions. I don't know exactly how your quirk works or its limitations. Dodging to the side would have worked too."

Momo didn't hear anything beyond  _'fall slower.'_  That could have actually worked… a parachute's molecular composition was easy to produce as well. She leaned closer, one hand on Todoroki's desk, another gripping the back of his seat.

"Then here," he continued, her attention and curiosity at what he was saying increasing with each word. He flipped to the third page smoothly, as if he himself had designed them. "You had an opening here. The objective was to get away from the boundary line, but you were too busy being dazed-"

"I was  _not dazed._ " She snapped. "I was thinking of what I could create which could blow him away."

"There is no time for thought on the battlefield."

"Well my quirk  _needs_  thinking for it to work."

"I don't understand your quirk." He said indignantly, as if not knowing insulted him as a person.

He really was curious wasn't he? She sighed. "The objects I create don't just appear. I have to create them from the molecular level. So if my concentration level breaks and the molecules don't form properly at any one point, the object will come out crooked or faulty."

Todoroki gave the papers a hard look. "Your quirk is too much of a hassle."

"Well I'm sorry for being born with such a hassle." She huffed.

"Your apology doesn't affect me. It's you who will suffer." He said stoically. "Unless you find a way to make your creations instinctual. How can you not have done this already?"

"I create at least 50 different weapons regularly."

He was getting frustrated. She just rolled her eyes. "I'm glad you're getting some insight as to how difficult it is being me."

"I'm amazed people even deemed you U.A. level." It was one thing for her to think it, but to hear it from someone else just irked her to no end.

"If we were actual friends, I'd so have smacked you for that." She snapped, wondering for a split second if she'd crossed a line.

"With your physical ability, I probably wouldn't have felt it." He said without missing a beat. She resumed fuming. He turned to the next page. "And here. Why wouldn't you take this opportunity to blindside him? For a while, you were out of his line of vision, not only could you have leapt out of the way, you could have thrown something at him."

"What do you mean 'his blind side?'"

He turned instantly at this, two-foot gap between them forgotten, locking incredulous, mismatched eyes with hers. "When his shadow beast swoops away, it can't immediately turn. It's like a yo-yo. It has to take an arc, or else shrink back to make a sharp tu-"

"I know that. I'm not an idiot." Now he was just completely ignoring any mental prowess she had. "I meant that he doesn't  _have_  a blind side. Even when facing away, if Tokoyami is looking at you, the Beast can see everything through him."

They stared at each other a bit, neither wanting to back down, although Momo knew she was right this time. Momo – 1, Shoto – ….probably 4.

Todoroki gave in first, turning to look back down at the papers, hand raised to his mouth in thought. They stayed like that for a while, him glaring so hard at the notes she was scared he'd burn a hole through them; staring for so long she forgot what it was he was even contemplating.

She'd gotten distracted by the border of the two colors on the top of his head. His white side was a stark, crisp white, and in the sunlight pouring in through the windows, it seemed to give off an almost ethereal glow, and looked feather soft. In harsh contrast was the deep red of his fiery side; a brilliant, piercing crimson. A few strands would blow over to the snowy side every now and then, making the white seem softer and the red seem brighter.

"Midoriya has notes as well." She barely contained her jump at his voice cutting through her distracted thoughts.

"Are you saying you give up?" she smirked down at him.

"No." Wrinkles formed at the bridge of his nose and he scoffed, as if the mere thought of him giving up was repulsive. "I'm merely saying seeing things from a different angle may help. I heard from Iida his notes are quite detailed."

She smiled. "You're really impressed by him aren't you."

Todoroki raised his chin ever so slightly. "I'm just speaking fact." She let out a snort of laughter, straightening up from his desk, and picking up her papers. Classic Todoroki, unable to acknowledge anyone. "But yes, I am."

She froze, staring at him in complete shock as he looked absently ahead. He had changed. The difference was ever so subtle, but he had. He seemed more…open now. Or as open as he could be, she supposed.

"There's more to you than one would think, isn't there?" He looked up at her from between his bangs. She bopped him over the top of his head with her notes. "Thanks Todoroki. Who knows, you may be punch-worthy one day."

And then she left, giving him a lazy, mock salute, off to find Midoriya with Todoroki staring confusedly after her.

* * *

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Feedback is what us writers live for ;P Also, I'm a veteran fanfiction.net user and it's my first time posting to AO3. I've heard a lot about this from my readers over there, so I decided to post this story here as well. So please let me know how y'all feel about this!


	2. The Second Fault

 

* * *

**The Second Fault**

* * *

 

It was one of those mundane exercise classes, where everyone donned their sports gear and went outside to stretch and warm-up. But being U.A., this daily class also consisted of muscle building, basic MMA, grading from a teacher, as well as customizable solo workouts. After the initial 15 minute compulsory warm-up as a class, the students were allowed to choose how to spend the remaining hour and a half, as long as they were doing something from the aforementioned list.

The girls had chosen to break away, traversing to the opposite side of the grounds as they always did, leaving the boys to rough-house and mess around freely.

Yaoyorozu had set up an elaborate jungle gym and was currently getting covered in the mucus-y slime that was Mina Ashido's quirk. Todoroki arched an eyebrow at the scene; Momo hanging upside down, about to say something when she got hit with a mouthful of ooze. The only theory he could put together was that she was taking his advice on her lack of physical prowess seriously, and had asked Ashida to throw projectiles her way until she could dodge flawlessly. Made sense.

He watched her get hit by two more relatively dodge-able balls had she not been too busy worrying over being hit to start with. He'd have to mention that to her sometime; if you get hit, get over it and plan the next move. Her grip faltered due to lack of friction and she ungracefully clunked to the floor, but she shot up almost immediately, clearly not able to maintain such an undignified position.

He felt a smirk pull at his lips. She began to run her fingers through her jet black hair, in an attempt to remove the slime, but all it did was make the mess worse. He breathed out a closed-mouth laugh as she made a disgusted face, only to get hit with another ball of mucus courtesy of a hysterical moth girl.

"What are  _you_  laughing at, ya perv?"

A thick arm wrapped its way around his neck, slamming his head into a rock-hard chest. Reflexively, Todoroki grabbed the shirt of his opponent and, using his legs as a pivot, twisted and body-slammed Kirishima onto the sandy floor. Hard.

Todoroki straightened, dusted himself off, then ran a hand through his hair, absentmindedly reminding himself of a dark haired girl he was watching only moments ago.

"Jesus Christ man, remind me never to jump scare  _you_  again." Kirishima said, getting up and cracking his neck, not looking winded at all. He walked over to stand with the ice user, trying to see whatever he was looking at. "So, which one is it?" He asked, grinning toothily.

Todoroki gave him a sharp look. "Hah?"

That earned him a rough slap on the back, much to his utter irritation. "Aw c'mon! We were just having this conversation ourselves. Here, see?" Todoroki watched as Kirishima walked over to the gaggle of guys, who seemed to have started on nothing to utilize their time, probably expecting him to follow.

He didn't.

"Oy, Kaminari!" The electric ball of energy jumped over. "What's the score?"

' _Score?'_

"Uraraka and Yaoyorozu tied in the lead with 3 each, followed by Jiro with 2 and Tsuyu-chan with 1." The blond happily stated.

The redhead turned back to address him. "Care to file in your vote, Mr. Hot-'n-Frosty? We could really use a tie breaker."

Did he even want to know? "What for?"

Sero chose to help shed some light on the discussion. "Who's your pick? The bubbly ray of sunshine that is Uraraka, or deep, dark and sultry Yaoyorozu? Or maybe your tastes are rather unique and lie with the other girls?"

"What are you talking about?" Again, did he really want to know?

"The most attractive girl of our class! Duh." Kirishima said happily.

A flash of dark black hair flashed through Todoroki's mind again before his brain fully shutdown. Were they  _serious_?

Not registering the twitch in Todoroki's left eye, Kaminari continued. "Well, Uraraka  _would_  be at 4, but Bakugo can't get off his tsun for long eno-"

Kaminari barely dodged a relatively large explosion erupting in the airspace to his right. " _Die sparky!"_

Lucky for the electric hero, Bakugo, in an uncharacteristic act of mercy, didn't pursue the matter, and just chose to flip him a rude one before turning back to his weights. At least someone was focused.

Kaminari, expression relaxed as if he was never in life-threatening danger, turned back to the extremely paramount task of keeping the score. Todoroki chose to make his way over in the direction of the explosive hero, determining that to be a relatively safe zone from low IQ. He passed Midoriya on his way over, who offered him a quivering smile. He gave a curt nod in response.

"Iida refuses to vote for anybody, saying they're all 'equal'." The blond mocked the last word. A not-so-small part inside Todoroki agreed. Everyone was not born equal. This school was proof of that. His entire  _life_  was encircled around the fact that people are not born equal.

He found a small piece of land far enough from the others and started on stretching. The sooner he warmed up, the sooner he could go to the specialized training quarters.

"Who did you vote for?" Kirishima asked.

"I was gonna go for Shiozaki," The blond happily replied. "I mean, clearly, her and I have this whole thing going on, after the sports tournament. But the guys said it had to be in our class. So I went for Jiro. She and I had a thing, too, before Shiozaki came into the picture."

' _They're fools. Every last one of them.'_

"You're all fools, every last one of ya."

Todoroki looked over at the gathering, wondering who it was that echoed his thoughts. It was…he couldn't remember his name. The little grape boy. Shoto felt a hint of annoyance at having shared anything at all with such a creature. He pushed his irritation aside and continued with his warmup, taking deep breaths in, then slowly exhaling. Just a minute more, then he'd leave.

"You people are undermining the queen, the model, the  _babe_ of the class- Momo Yaoyorozu!"

Todoroki inhaled too sharply and erupted into a coughing fit. Iida was over in a flash to thump him on the back, free hand offering a glass of water, which he took with some resignation.

"I mean, how does Uraraka even come close?" the little grape continued imploringly, not sparing Todoroki a glance.

"Well, I mean, sure, she's smoking hot." The blond decided to give his two cents. Todoroki gave a final,  _loud,_  throat-clearing cough. Kaminari continued. "But I just feel like she's too unattainable."

"Yeah, it's like, what's the point of looking at the Sun when you're just gonna get blinded?" Sero added. Todoroki took a sip of water and thanked Iida. Ever dependable. Clearly he never broke character.

"Yeah," Kirishima decided to give his two cents. "So like, instead of grasping for air, might as well turn our sights to something more realistic."

"Although both of them have a really nice rack." Mineta put sagely.

There was a loud thud as Midoriya, dropped the weights he'd quietly been lifting, and in his flurry of indignation hardly noticed that they dropped barely half an inch from his toes. "G-guys, cut it out. You're all being extremely insensitive. And rude. I think this whole conversation is just pointless." His hands fidgeted nervously, but his voice remained steady.

The half-and-half hero gave an internal nod of agreement. There was a reason Midoriya had earned his respect.

"But dude, you voted for Uraraka."

Todoroki watched in mild interest as Midoriya's face turned a deep, dark red, his already fidgety hands now fumbling intensely, a steady stream of words tumbling out of his mouth.

 _"_ N-n-n-no, th-th-that's not w-what I-I-I-I-I m-mean s-s-sure….b-b-but I really r-respect her, both as a p-person and a hero." And then something within the All-Might protegé seemed to snap, and a steady stream of words began pouring out in an indecipherable jumble, at hardly half the volume.

"I mean, if you've partnered up with her, you'd understand what I meant. Not to mention, she's a really nice person. She's always smiling, and being with her makes you feel better, and if you ever feel sad or lonely or upset, she always knows what to say. So I really think there's much more to her than it is you guys are trying to say, and I really think it's wrong and I don't think she or any of the other girls would be very impressed-"

"Ah, you broke him, Kirishima." The plain-looking, tape manipulator said. Kaminari smothered his laughter.

As Todoroki pulled his gaze away, he was met with a face full of round, purple spheres, beneath which lay equally large eyes staring straight at him.

"Surely you agree with me about Yaoyorozu-san," Mineta proclaimed with a dramatic thumbs up, and a wink of the eye. "Aibou!"

The transition between expressing surprise to emanating a death glare directed wholly at the tiny boy was so fast it pulled a muscle somewhere between his eyebrows. Shoto's bangs had thrown a heavy shadow over his eyes, making them appear all the more vivid. That only deepened the furrowing and increased the severity of his scowl. Mineta suddenly questioned all life choices that had led to this moment as what appeared to be steam began radiating from Todoroki's left side.

"Warm-up over people. Spend the rest of your time constructively." Their homeroom teacher's drawl came blaring at them through the loud speakers.

With a huff at letting this rubbish get to him in the first place, Todoroki stalked away as fast as grace would allow him.

* * *

Momo excused herself from Jiro and Ashido wanting to try something out for herself in the solo training rooms.

"Sure! Just leave up the jungle gym, if you please." Ashido chirped. "It's actually really useful."

"I'll probably join you in a bit." Jiro had said.

And so Momo found herself in the center of the large, tiled room five minutes later, a baseball shooter lying a few yards away. She'd decided to condition herself with pain, and had gone for physical baseballs rather than the virtual reality U.A. offered. If she couldn't get herself to react quick enough, hopefully the pain of being hit would condition some reflexes out of her.

She switched on the ball machine and observed first the way the balls were shot out, then she got in position, pumping out a few shields for practice. A ball shot out and immediately she dodged, heart racing, feeling the hard sphere flick against the ends of her hair. That ball came out way too fast. Taking a deep breath, she straightened up, only to have a whoosh of air hit her cheek as yet another one flew past.

She grit her teeth, gulping down a gasp .  _'C'moon Momo!'_

Glaring hard at the machine, she braced herself, feeling beads of sweat begin to form at her temple.  _'A shield. C'mon, it should be immediate, no delay!'_

The glow of her quirk flashed over her forearm and the plate began to materialize. But the whirring of the machine cut across her excitement as it geared up for the next ball, and a flash of fear shot through her mind, and it showed in the flickering of the shield.  _'Shit, I dropped focus! A kink! There's a kink in the-'_

_WHACK!_

With a dull crunch, Momo found herself lying flat on her back, groaning in dazed pain. Dully, she registered a thick, viscous heat begin to slowly trickle down her nose to her chin, and she coughed spastically when she tried breathing in through her nose. The ball had broken it.

' _Of course it had_.' She thought despondently.

She rolled over onto her side, the pain more a pounding throb in the front of her face. Clutching her nose with a numb hand, she heard the swish of another ball being released. Getting sucker punched by an inanimate object. A new all-time low. She slowly sat up and leaned forward. At least no one had seen her. She clearly needed the practice. She could not show such inadequacy in front of the others.

"You're bleeding."

Her eyes flew open, pupils pinpointed in shock, and she looked up. Another ball whizzed past her head.

' _Oh. Of course.'_

Before she had time to even register her embarrassment, Todoroki raised his right hand and created a ball of ice. She had just dazedly thought of how beautiful it looked, glistening in his hand, when he shattered it into pieces. An inexplicable flash of anger flickered through her mind at him destroying something so pretty, but the feeling vanished almost instantly as he dumped the pieces into the small towel he'd been holding, and then knelt down in front of her, gently pushing the impromptu ice bag onto the break.

She took it from his hand, not really processing what was happening. He lifted the free end of the towel and motioned for her to take it and wipe away any blood from her face. After he was satisfied she'd comply, without a word, the half-ice hero got up and walked over to the ball machine and finally switched it off. Then he leaned against it and raised a single eyebrow.

Momo internally groaned, closing her eyes and slumping over to once again lie flat on her back, facing the ceiling.

"You should keep your head elevated during a nosebleed." She heard him say.

Why oh  _why_ was  _he here_? Could she never catch a break? Had she perhaps angered one too many people? Or had she maybe, kicked a can sometime, somewhere, which had caused a cascade of events, leading to a catastrophe of some sort that would possibly invoke this happening to her? As if she needed to look worse in his eyes.

And then she remembered her hair was currently coated in insect mucus and she let out a groan, audible this time. Why him, why now? She cranked her eyes open slightly.

He was now hovering over her, arms crossed over his chest, wearing an impassive look. She gave him a leveled stare and opened her mouth to speak when instead a bout of cough took over. She immediately sat upright and cleared her lungs. When she opened her watery eyes she found Todoroki had crouched down as well, looking at her imploringly, as if just waiting for an excuse to help.

He was looking at her in the strangest way, too. He was a good three feet away, but it felt much closer, like he was much larger, and it was oddly reassuring. There was so much to take in with him at that moment; like the fact that he was wearing their sports gear's t-shirt, which was damp with sweat; the fact that his hair had been haphazardly parted to the side as if he'd ran his hand roughly through it, a mess of red and white, to reveal part of his forehead, which she would find incredibly attractive; the fact that he had the most perfect forearms. Yup. There was a lot to take in.

Still, for some reason, all she saw in that moment were his eyes. They were such a strange feature, telling two different sides of the same story. The dark grey one was intense (though when was he  _not_ ), serious, showing that he was 100% focused on everything at that very moment. The blue one was gentler, so much more humane in the sense that it held some semblance of fear and nerves. Perhaps he was worried that he wouldn't be able to help. She wondered if he knew just how expressive his eyes were. And she wondered if he actually cared as much as his eyes implied he did.

Feeling she could breathe again, she answered his unasked question. "I'm fine."

His eyebrows furrowed. He frowned in a way that made her decide she liked a worried Todoroki. He adjusted himself to sit more comfortably on the ground, getting tired of leaning on his haunches. "We should go to the nurse."

"No! No way." She said. "There's no way I'm telling anyone how I got into this mess."

He sighed. "You're a piece of work."

"What are you even doing here?" she asked, thoroughly irked by this entire situation. The class usually dispersed at this point, and the only ones she'd usually see were Jiro and Ashido, only because they tended to practice together.

"I was in the arena. It's the room next door. Half the class is in there."

She blinked at this. "Half the class? I can't hear anything. How are they being so quiet?"

"It's soundproof."

She frowned. "So why are you here, right now, and not in the soundproof room?"

"It was getting too crowded." He said simply.

Of course. Of course he'd decided from being in a  _soundproof room_  to not at the  _exact_ moment the universe had decided she needed a crooked nose. She winced as the thoughts of her nose stimulated an especially painful throb.

"What were you hoping would happen?"

She huffed. "I was  _trying_  to increase both the speed at which I create protection and the quality. I want to be able to do it without thinking. I thought being hit would help speed up my reflexes." The look he gave her made her feel like she had soap for brains.

"You don't need practice creating things, you're fast enough." He said. "You need to work on your dodging and agility-"

"My agility is just fine!" she snapped. She was met with another eyebrow raise and a snort. Ooh how badly she wanted to wipe the floor with his face.

"I can tell."

"Well someone's found his sarcasm today." He ignored her.

"Allow me to lend you some tips."

"Must be my lucky day."

"And you're calling me sarcastic." He blew a quick breath upwards, stirring strands of hair which had fallen into his eyes. "What you  _should_ be doing, you'll be pleased to hear, is something similar," – _"Oh praise the lord, whatever would I have done if it wasn't"-_  "But without using your quirk. And I would have suggested something more difficult to dodge than a linear projectile, but you're struggling enough with that, so-"

"Oh shut up." She snapped. She could tell he wasn't about to let this go. Time to change tactics. "As if there's nothing you have trouble with."

He seemed to think about this for a while. "Not really. No."

"Your modesty humbles me."

"I'm being serious."

"I can tell." She echoed back his words.

"Well, they say you're often blind to your own shortcomings. So enlighten me. What do I lack?"

Momo was struck with the suddenness and weight of this question. Quite honestly, that was her issue entirely; the boy had absolutely nothing wrong with him. Down to his skin, he was faultless where she clearly wasn't, and it irked her beyond belief. How was one supposed to compete with that?

She lowered the damp towel off her face, feeling the bleeding had stopped, when his hand caught hers and pushed it back.

"For the swelling." He explained. The heat she felt on her cheeks was just her body's reaction to the cold. Definitely. That's all it was. "You should probably get it checked as well. Just in case it  _is_ broken."

He stood up and held out a helping hand. "Your personality." She blurted, and he blinked.

"Excuse me?"

"You asked me what was wrong with you." She refused to look at him as he pulled her to her feet, and immediately started walking. "So I'm telling you. Your personality."

"I fail to see what my personality has to do with my fighting ability." He said as he walked, leveling her pace. She had to agree with that. So she simply shrugged. "So you're admitting that I have no flaws."

"No, see, right there. Your overconfidence. It's so solid and so  _big_  that you don't even realize; it's pride!"

"It's fact." He replied stoically. She threw her free hand up disparagingly. He continued though. "I've never thought of personality as something that could affect the outcome of a match. It's always about your own ability."

"Doesn't explain your match against Bakugo though."

He didn't like that, and she felt a smirk spread on her face as he let out a small 'Tch' under his breath. Momo – 2, Shouto – still 4 (maybe 5, what with the whole 'keep your head elevated' thing).

"He was just stronger than me."

"That's not what I mean." She said. " _Your_ personality was holding you back."

There was a permeating silence after this, where he simply let her words sink in. For a while, all that could be heard were the rustling leaves in the wind and the crunch of their shoes against gravel as they walked, and Momo wondered if she had maybe hit a sore spot.

But finally, he spoke. "Perhaps. Or maybe he'd have won anyway."

"Are you saying you aren't infallible? That someone is better than you?"

"That's exactly what I'm saying."

She'd meant to be snarky, to get him riled up, for some elusive reason, but he simply agreed with her. She glanced at him out of the corner of her eye. His expression had regressed into something untouchable, his hands stuffed deeply into his pockets and it looked like he'd rather be anywhere else, having any other conversation. But what piqued her interest was that he had admitted that he could have lost a match. Like he  _wasn't_ good enough, when he kept putting out and even  _proving_ that he was. He was proving to be far more complex than she'd have ever believed him to be.

He surprised her even more when he continued. "And that's why I continue to train. I suppose everyone has room to improve." He flexed his shoulders, rolling one first, then the other, eyes closed lazily, as if he'd never been in doubt of himself. "You should consider yourself lucky, Yaoyorozu. Not everyone knows exactly where their weaknesses lie."

"True." She said, not batting an eye. "Some people even believe they don't have any at all."

Todoroki let out a breath of what she had to assume was laughter. "As long as you don't take it for granted." He said, a lightness to his voice. She just smiled.

They had walked halfway to the main building when Ashido and Jiro came running up to them, expressing worry. It took Momo a good 3 minutes calming them down, and when she'd finally turned to tell Todoroki she was okay to walk from here, he had already gone.

* * *

 


	3. The Third Fault

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Argh, that moment when you've reread a chapter so many times you can't tell whether or not it's good any more Dx This is one of those transition chapters, and it was killer to write, so bear with me here. 
> 
> Thank you to everyone who has taken their time to show support! :') It means so much that you took time out to leave a comment, or a like!
> 
> Anyway, enough of that; onwards!

 

* * *

**The Third Fault**

The History teacher hadn't yet arrived when Yaoyorozu entered the classroom, her hair gleaming with the telltale sheen of a fresh shower.

Now slime-free, her hair was out of its usual ponytail and tied loosely at the nape of her neck, and any free strands she'd usually leave hanging out were tucked away, leaving her face more…open. Nobody paid much attention to the tall girl, especially the boys, which confused Todoroki, knowing the conversation they'd just had the previous class. She stopped a couple of times to speak with Ashido and then with Jiro, the picture of poise, very much unlike herself just an hour ago on the field.

He watched, chin on his palm, as Mineta passed a not-so-subliminal innuendo as she made her way to her seat ('So a little slime is what it takes to get you wet, eh?') causing Todoroki to throw a look so dark he swore even Tokoyami shivered.

Todoroki had never noticed how long and delicate her lashes were. They weren't the sought after thick and full lengths many women went for, yet Todoroki found himself staring at them as they fluttered and kissed her cheekbones every time she blinked. There was something sensual about the way they framed her dark eyes and added to her confident and composed aura. Someone called out to her, making her look up. Her lips went from a confused 'o' to a gentle smile, which accentuated her cheekbones. Her hand rose to tuck away strands of hair that were no longer there, a phantom reflex he found rather entertaining.

It was only after this, as he observed the sunlight break into lines of color on the crown of Momo's head, that he realized he was staring at her. Immediately, he looked ahead, trying in earnest to focus on the nothingness at the front of the class. Yet, after a while, his eyes kept flicking to his left.

Suddenly, she turned to look at him.

His eyes darted forward yet again, every muscle tensing instantly, his heart pounding, and feeling suddenly uncomfortably hot. Todoroki shut his eyes as his chest tightened and the air around him constricted, making it suddenly harder to breathe. He wedged the tip of his index under the knot of his tie and with a tug, ever so slightly loosened the knot.

He exhaled.

Calm, composed, collected. Composure was everything to him. Todoroki exhaled, reaching out for his reins of control. When he felt slightly more in control again, before he could stop himself, he looked back at her, without thinking.

She was still looking at him.

"What?" he asked, and inward cursed as his body temperature instantly shot up completely obliterating all his hard work. What was the point of having control over the two extremes of temperature when it couldn't control those critical moments?

"You were right when you were talking about my lack of physical ability." She said, with a touch of resignation. "I understood that the hard way. Pun not intended."

Todoroki felt his lips twitch. "Perhaps next time, stick with the jungle gym."

Yaoyorozu let out a frustrated groan, bringing her fist to her forehead. "Ugh, who didn't see that?"

He watched as she hid her face with her hands, her nose peeking out between them. That reminded him… "How's the break feeling?" he asked, indicating his nose.

She breathed out slowly, pulling herself upright, and turned back to him. He blinked as she met his gaze once again.

"Recovery Girl made so much fun of me." She said it so seriously, he found himself fighting off another grin. He won the fight, obviously. "I hope this doesn't get around. It's bad enough having Kyouka and Mina make fun of me."

"So get good enough so no one can say anything."

Yaoyorozu sighed slightly, rolling her eyes upwards. "Serious as always." She commented. She held up a finger, indicating she'd just remembered something, and then pulled out a couple of worn notebooks from her bag. Todoroki raised an eyebrow.

"Midoriya's notes." She stated simply. "Apparently notes about our class are scattered throughout these two." Iida hadn't been lying when he'd said Midoriya was particular. And he'd thought Yaoyorozu had been excessive. Sato passed a sheet of paper to him from his right, which he took absently.

"I've only skimmed through the pages," she mumbled to herself, though he could still hear her as she flipped through the top one absently. "They're as detailed as a textbook…He's got biodata in here as well….'Yaoyorozu Momo. Quirk encompasses the ability of molecular creation. Nature once again chooses wisely, as this ability requires knowledge of science and molecular physics unlike any other.'"

She turned to Todoroki here. "He just called me smart." She informed him. He raised an eyebrow in amusement, resting his chin back on his palm. She continued.

"'However, as with all quirks, downsides exist. Number one: The quirk requires the exposure of skin; this could prove detrimental in extreme conditions, for example, in toxic fumes, where exposure to skin is avoided. In freezing, or burning conditions as well.'"

"That's a good point." Todoroki commented. "I hadn't thought of that."

"Me neither…" she said quietly. She then caught the astounded look he gave her out of the corner of her eye. "Don't look at me like that!"

"I'm beginning to doubt your title as the class's smartest."

She grumbled. "Should I even be reading this in front of people? It could potentially be used against me…"

He shot her an irritated look. "I'm not an enemy." He said. "Besides, in a real fight, I'd just depend on you not being able to dodge."

She shot him a glare, but continued reading. "'Number two: Not as effective one on one due to sheer amount of concentration needed, as well as time taken to create-' Hah! See? I was right to be trying to increase my speed."

"One should have priorities, Yaoyorozu. Fix the gaping hole before tending to the minor cuts."

The audible grumble she made in her throat was the only indication of her begrudging acceptance.

Todoroki looked away to scan the piece of paper he'd just received and felt himself groan. His eyes looked up to see both Kaminari and Kirishima simultaneously flashing him a thumbs up, expressions identical. As if rehearsed, they both pointed first at the paper, then at Tokoyami. Clearly he was supposed to pass it on.

"Damn," he heard Yaoyorozu say from his left. "He even goes on to say how each of my match-ups went, starting from All-Might's villain-hero simulation test; and then goes on to critique each outcome, weighing my quirk against whoever I've faced. This is really impressive…"

Todoroki looked back to the paper, wondering what to do. The idiots had created quite an extensive grid, with the name of the girls of Class 1A, complete with a rating system of their different attributes; hair, chest size, overall look, smile, personality – he was amazed they'd bothered with that last one at all.

The Creation heroine continued her impromptu lecture, not noticing the rather degrading piece of paper that was currently being passed around. "I wonder what they have on Tokoyami..." She was saying.

He looked up to look at the two boys and stared at them, hard. Their smiles faltered ever so slightly. He had several options then. He could scrunch it up and throw it away. Of course, they'd just fish it out themselves and continue this pointless charade. He could pass it to Iida, and have the class president deal with this mess. He could simply not pass on the paper. This was the worst option, as it would probably result in them bugging him endlessly until he took part, probably standing over his shoulder as he filled it in. He glanced sideways, watching as Yaoyorozu began reading out Tokoyami's breakdown.

He couldn't have that.

Making sure Kirishima and Kaminari were looking, he held up his left hand under the paper. They frowned in confusion for a while. Then, the air above his palm began shimmering with heat and almost instantly, they began flailing their arms in a panic, shaking their heads rapidly, cheeky, self-satisfied smiles long gone. Of course, a voice inside him whispered, he had it right now, with no one pestering him. He could just…fill it in. It was anonymous after all. He stared at the sheet for so long the bottom corner had started to curl from the radiating warmth.

"What's that?"

Yaoyorozu's voice cut through his thoughts. He'd barely blinked before the vice president herself had leaned over from her seat to try and read whatever it was on the page.

"No, Todoroki! Do something!"

"Move dude! Move!"

The entire class turned to watch as both boys practically tripped over themselves in a frenzy. Yaoyorozu took the sheet from him. They yelled. Just before she had a chance to look at it properly, however, Mineta had swiveled around and snatched the page from her hands. There was a resonating sigh of relief.

"Mineta, give that back here!" she snapped, irritated at not being fully aware of what was happening.

"Ms Yaoyorozu, settle down, please." The teacher had finally arrived. Yaoyorozu sat down, a heavy blush flooding her face at being told off. "Books out, turn to page 12."

However, they barely got 10 minutes into the lesson before an explosion sounded, like a nuclear bomb from the back of the room.

It seemed the paper had reached Bakugo.

* * *

Now that she was aware of it, Momo's physical agility, or lack thereof, was starting to scare her. She had tried at first to juggle both studies and exercise, but it hadn't really worked, with her ending up far behind any homework or extra credit, all her time and energy being spent on training. Plus her father, who worked from home, was growing sick of her endless zaps of creation. So she'd come up with a new plan; study at home, practice after school. Designated hours, no more, no less.

She had asked Aizawa for permission to use the training rooms after school, and he agreed, blandly putting that he would never understand why the recommendation kids were so enthusiastic.

And that was how she found herself still at school that afternoon, entering the training rooms. Todoroki had told her about the large soundproof room earlier, and it had sounded perfect for letting loose with one's quirk. She opened the door to her right and came into a large padded room, divided into 5 moderately sized sections, each with its own computer. This had to be the VR room.

She backtracked, walked passed the central room, and opened the door to the left. The area she came upon was absolutely massive, probably as big as the other rooms combined. The floor was lined with a strange sort of tile; rough, like the ground of a baseball field. 'Probably for grip', she thought. The walls of the arena ('arena', because it dwarfed any kind of room) were covered in murals of funky, bright colors. Large windows were placed high up near the ceiling, bringing in plenty of light, yet far enough to be spared any sort of damage. Now that she thought about it, everything in this room was probably quirk-resistant.

And utilizing the room, looking rather small in the center of such a large space, was Todoroki.

'So that's what Aizawa had meant.'

And utilizing was the correct word.

Todoroki slammed his hand towards the floor, ice beams shooting up in quick succession, like fungi growing out of the forest floor. Without missing a beat, he ran up each one, easily as if they were stepping stones, climbing higher and higher. Nearing the last one, he launched off the tips of his toes, somersaulting elegantly. Using his hand as a pivot, he launched himself off the highest pillar of ice.

And then Todoroki was falling. Hair whipped out of his face with the speed at which he plummeted, but he didn't faulter. Immediately, he held out his left hand, charging his fist with flames and instantly shot it out, like a flamethrower. The long charge of heat blasted through all the ice he'd created, and suddenly the hall filled with steam.

But as he landed, his foothold slipped, and the flames spread up from the concentrated point on his fist, spreading like a blast of air all the way up his shoulder, until half his face and torso were aflame. The echo of a frustrated curse ricocheted throughout the room as he put out the fire.

'So that's why he has his shirt off.' Yaoyorozu thought meekly, staring at the rare flash of irritation marring his usually impassive features.

For a moment, she just stood there, staring mindlessly as he doubled over, trying to regain his breath. Her jaw, slightly unhinged, coupled with her unfocused gaze, gave the usually level-headed creation user quite a brain-dead look.

Suddenly, ice pillars shot into the air again and Momo realized the sequence had restarted. The gears in her brain slowly creaked back into motion and she decided to leave, quietly and quickly closing the door behind her.

It was ridiculous. This meant that not only had he already analyzed himself, he had now decided to focus fully on concentrating and localizing the origin of his flames, instead of unleashing the explosive mess that was his match against Midoriya. A game plan with instant implementation.

Yaoyorozu sighed. The stairs to reach Todoroki's level only seem to grow longer. Whenever she reached what many would see as a huge achievement, the talented hot and cold user would only shine brighter, increasing the distance even more. What she needed to focus on now were the basics.

Back to plan B: utilizing U.A.'s impressive holographic training course.

Momo reentered the room with the computers, and unceremoniously dumped her bags in the corner. She'd have to spend the day's remaining time getting an idea of how to operate it all. She walked up to the first computer and pulled up the command screen. U.A. delivered once again, offering modes complete from obstacle courses, target practice to evasive maneuvers, sneaking practice and strategy development.

Yaoyorozu clicked on evasive tactics, which pulled up another list with options on the size and type of projectile, along with the avoidance strategy. 'That's exactly what I need. Darned avoidance skills.'

Clicking on that gave her yet another list, with the first option being MMA. Yaoyorozu paused here, running the options through her head.

She knew the general idea behind it, but she'd never gone into depth, always relying on her quirk to dodge and attack. Her fitness level went as far as a daily run on her family's treadmill plus muscle building with standard gym equipment. She'd always been skeptical as to the importance of regimented, organized fighting. But perhaps that was exactly the edge she was missing.

Taking a page out of Uraraka's book, the creation artist decided to wing it. Learning from one's mistakes was the fastest road to improvement, after all. A green light turned on, and a holographic sphere was thrown at her. She stepped aside easily, and although the objects were thrown at a faster rate than the baseball machine, she was able to avoid all of them by simply dodging left and right.

After 10 throws, the simulation ended, and Yaoyorozu checked her score.

"A D?!" she cried. "61%...How in the world…"

She opened the breakdown of her performance.

Avoidance – A  
Technique – D  
Skill level – D  
Agility – C

Momo sighed, mentally pouting. 'Well, now we know avoidance isn't really the issue.' Well, on the bright side, at least Todoroki had been wrong. Sort of. There was obviously something wrong with the way she'd been tackling fights up until now. Momo looked back at the computer, checking if it offered some tips for improvement. It didn't. She sighed again.

She supposed it made sense that she was so underdeveloped when it came to this, seeing as in junior high, they only checked their actual quirks and ability to use them. Even as a six year old, strategizing had always come easy; solving each problem with her brain power and her ability to think outside the box were one of a kind.

Momo had also never really been pitted against another quirk user either, so her faults and lacking in battle had never been made obvious. That was what hero high school was for.

Regardless, according to the computer's breakdown, she needed to improve most in technique and skill. Switching off the computer, she decided to do some research.

* * *

"…What are you doing here Yaoyorozu?"

The sun was low in the sky, casting a warm glow of afternoon sunlight on the school grounds outside the training rooms.

She lifted her chin. "I've decided to train in the rooms for a while."

Todoroki grunted in response. Then, "Why do you have a pile of books?"

"They're books on how to fight." She said, nose in the air.

Momo had gone to the library and proceeded to check out every book on fighting techniques, wanting to get back to the rooms as quickly as possible. The librarian, a student from Class 1B with a bad attitude, had then told her only five books could be checked out at a time. So she had to rapidly scan through each of them, and finally managed to filter them down.

By the time she'd made it back down to the training area, Todoroki was already locking up. She looked at him disparagingly, as if it was him who decided when to close the doors.

Todoroki did something resembling rolling his eyes, and then shook his head, sighing at the floor. "Of course they are."

"I resent that belittling sigh."

He hadn't bothered changing back into his uniform, choosing to go home in his sports gear, but he'd put on a shirt (much to her relief) and thrown on a black sports jacket against the spring cold. The keys rattled as he stuffed them into his pocket and he walked over to stand next to her, peering over her shoulder to read the various book titles.

"Wait, Todoroki!" She exclaimed suddenly, making him jump at her sudden outburst. She shoved the books into his arms. "My stuff is still in there!"

She ran to the double doors and yanked on the handles, but the doors only rattled in response. She then realized that they'd just been locked, and for a moment she just stared blankly at the unrelenting doorknobs.

"Keys!" she blurted.

"Yaoyorozu, think fast."

She whirled around to face him, only to have the keys bounce off her shoulder and fall to the floor with a clink. She bent over to pick them up; hearing a snort, she straightened to glare at the source, a light flush of embarrassment covering her cheeks.

"You're lucky I'm all the way out here!" She grumbled loudly, whirling around, unlocking the doors in a huff.

"I wouldn't be worried even if you were only a foot away." Came the untroubled response, as he flipped lazily through one of her books. Yaoyorozu felt a vein pop. Snatching the keys from the lock, she turned around and threw them at him, as hard as she could. They landed by his feet, a good twelve inches from being even close to hitting him.

Todoroki momentarily tore his gaze from the book, and his mismatched eyes lazily flicked downward at the keys before sliding up to her; his expression, unimpressed.

Flushing in embarrassment, Yaoyorozu stalked inside. Her bag was lying as she'd left it in the corner of the VR room, and before grabbing it, the young pre-heroine took a deep calming breath, leaning against the wall. 'You're going to go out there,' she scolded herself. 'And you're going to act like someone worthy of being in U.A.' Nodding resolutely to herself, she headed out again, feeling her anger abate slightly.

"Yaoyorozu, catch them this time."

Momo blinked in surprise.

She watched as Todoroki swung him arm a couple of times, hand clutching the keys, giving her time to adjust herself. Quickly catching on, the girl deposited her bag by her feet and positioned herself, legs braced firmly and hands cupped out, ready to receive. Then the keys came flying at her, and she moved forward, eyes never once leaving the objects, following them meticulously. She lifted her hands. Now that she was ready for it, there was no way she'd-

The keys bounced off the tips of her fingers and dropped to the floor.

She heard a louder snort. Yaoyorozu's head snapped up and the scathing look she directed his way would've been enough to sear any man alive. Todoroki's expression stayed neutral. Not even a mere twitch on his stoic feature gave away his amusement, but she knew, she knew the stone-face prick was laughing at her.

With a growl, she snatched up the keys and locked the doors.

The young prodigy looked up at her finally, as she walked towards him. He extended his hand, waiting for her to give back the keys, eyes flashing with mirth, and that just ticked her off all the more. How could he keep such a straight face even though she knew he was ready to gloat? Momo grabbed the books from his arms, then hovered the keys over his hand as if giving it to him.

Her eyes locked with his.

And suddenly, her face broke into a smile overflowing with sweetness. Instantly, alarm bells went off in the back of his mind. With a flick of her wrist, she tossed the keys in a wide arc, missing his outstretched hand entirely. They landed on the ground with a thunk.

He looked at her in shock.

Yaoyorozu stared right back as a carnal, savage happiness exploded in her chest. No one made a mockery of her. She suddenly understood everyone who had ever thrown away all that they had known, cherished and loved for the sake of simple, raw revenge. It was oh so very sweet.

And it lasted a glorious three seconds.

As the silence grew and he remained motionless, eyes dull with shock, the guilt hit her, and it hit her hard. She had never done something so viciously mean in her entire life. Yaoyorozu bent down herself, picking them up, and slamming them unceremoniously into his still limply spread hand. And then she began walking away rapidly, flushing furiously.

It took Todoroki a good few moments to get over what had just happened before he caught up with her. It was a while longer more before he opened his mouth. "Yaoy-"

"Don't." she snapped, cutting him across. "Don't you say a word."

He blinked, then closed his mouth. He cleared his throat. The silence persisted. Her hair obscured most of her face from view, although the tips of her ears glowing red were a dead giveaway.

"I didn't know your aim was so bad."

She rounded on him, shooting him a look so angry it could burn holes through steel 30 inches thick. Her arms tightened around her books, and she suddenly regretted having her arms full when her hands could be better utilized strangling him.

A moment more passed. And then it happened.

He cracked up.

It wasn't an all out laugh (God forbid he ever waste vital lung capacity laughing), but he gave a snort, before erupting into quiet huffs, shoulders silently shaking, which he very poorly hid as a coughing fit. Her features dissolved into that of shock. Momo stared at him, disbelief and confusion clogging her mind. And then he caught her looking, and stopped almost instantly, giving a final grunt, before hiding the last of his smile behind his fist, looking off into the distance.

She stared at him a while longer before she frowned, eyebrows forming an upset knot in the middle of her forehead and she pouted, shifting her eyes to stare straight ahead.

"What just happened?" The vice president heard the grin in his voice.

Momo groaned, raising the books to cover her face. "I lost my temper is what happened." Came her muffled, frustrated reply. This time he didn't camouflage his laugh as coughs, although he still raised a fist to his mouth as if he were about to.

"Even your temper needs training."

That earned him an elbow to the flank. Although, with her arms busy holding books, it ended up being a half-assed nudge into his side, which he dodged anyway. The books teetered dangerously, and he eyed them, wondering idly what would happen if they were to fall next.

There was a pleasant silence, where Todoroki was content to just watch her; Yaoyorozu had suddenly realized she had a bag and had begun to stuff her pile of books into it. That in itself turned out to be quite the interesting feat. She first tried stuffing them all in at once, before realizing it wouldn't be that simple.

"Are you even going to read all of them?" he found himself asking.

She spared him a glance before returning to her work. "Of course."

"They're garbage." He told her.

The dark haired girl huffed. "Well, it's more than I know. If I don't start somewhere, I'll never improve." She said, not willing to be discouraged.

"You'd be better off learning by experience." He said, stopping as she did in an effort on getting the last book in. "Why not join a gym or dojo?"

"My mother is against them." She said, the final book barely fitting in, but now the bag wouldn't zip up fully. She sighed, pausing to give her exhausted muscles a bit of a break. "She doesn't want people understanding the ins and outs of my quirk."

"Well, don't use your quirk, then."

Yaoyorozu finally gave up trying to close the bag and continued walking.

"I think it's more the fact that she doesn't want anyone to doubt her, or me, once they find out how weak I am." She laughed lightly, not thinking there was anything wrong with that statement, but Todoroki frowned. A muscle twitched as if he wanted to say something, but he remained silent.

"My mother is a lawyer for heroes." She explained. "I think she feels pride in the fact that I'm doing her legacy justice. She thinks it only obvious that someone as successful as her would have a perfect daughter. Having people find out I'm anything less than that would be a stain on her record."

There was a pause, and suddenly, Momo felt exposed, like she'd shared too much. She wondered why she had told him that particular piece of information. It was entirely irrelevant, and made it sound like she was more ungrateful than she actually was. Worse of all, it made people think she wanted sympathy of some sort.

"Parents shouldn't use their children as a means to an end." He said.

There was something hidden there, in his words, because Shoto Todoroki didn't say anything without reason. But she had taken too long trying to decipher it, and he was now looking at her, waiting for her response. "I don't know." she said, looking away. "I think it's her right as a mother to be able to feel pride in something her child does."

"You..." He was quiet, and she decided it was because he was trying to piece together the right words to express himself. "That's too ...understanding." He said, finally. "Nothing good can come of it."

"Perhaps," Yaoyorozu hummed in agreement. Another silence fell upon them, both lost in their own thoughts. "So I'm here courtesy of my mother. What about you? What are you doing here, Todoroki? Don't you have some massive estate you could be using instead?"

The air shifted then, and she could almost see the wall go up around him, the relaxed atmosphere gone instantly, uneasiness solidifying into something far more intense. His mouth curved down into its usual, bland frown. The entire thing was so sudden, and yet the change in his demeanor was hardly obvious at all. He had gone from warm to cold in a few seconds flat, and Momo felt just the smallest twinge of regret at having been the cause.

"I could train here or at home." He said stiffly. "If I'm here, might as well train here."

"And then when you're at home?"

"The same."

"But... when do you do anything else?"

"Such is the sacrifice of aiming for number one."

She frowned. "Well, when do you study?"

"I don't."

Momo froze. She stopped walking entirely. She gaped at him as he continued walking. Finally he realized she was falling behind and turned to look at her. He gave her a dry look. "What?"

"There's- How- But I mean- What about exams?" she finally managed.

He looked off to the side. "We're heroes; half of our exams are practical application."

"Yeah, but the other half is written!"

"I'll deal with it when the time comes."

She gaped at him. He gave her a bland look. "But…but you're so smart! How is this possible?"

At this, he turned around fully and crossed his arms. "You don't have to know calculus or the workings of a cell to be able to strategize intelligently." He said dryly.

"…Well...That's true, I suppose…"

He watched her for a while, as she lowered her gaze to frown at the floor, noting how she seemed actually conflicted at his not bothering much with academic learning. He didn't really understand where she was coming from, seeing as how his, and her, future lay in fighting crime and defending the peace. He let out an inaudible sigh.

"If it makes you feel any better, I do plan on passing every test." She looked up at him, with bright, hopeful eyes. He looked away. "And I do homework after dinner, whenever we have any."

She grinned at this, and finally rejoined him. "I bet I can score higher than you on the tests." She stated as they continued walking.

"I bet you can."

Momo pouted. "Tch, you're no fun."

"I'm not, am I."

"Again with the seriousness."

"It is my lacking personality." He said, referring to her statement earlier.

"Well you should work on fixing it."

"I would, but I'm not too sure what I'm supposed to be fixing." The large school entrance gates finally came into view. Without a word, Todoroki began walking in the opposite direction, causing Momo to turn.

"Where are you going?" she asked.

"Dropping off the keys to Aizawa." He replied.

"What just like that? Normal people say goodbye, you know."

"Goodbye, Yaoyorozu." She frowned. "If you haven't mastered MMA by tomorrow, I'll have to report you to the school for being inadequate."

"But it's garbage, remember?" she called after him. "Give me at least a week!"

He just waved aimlessly at her, leaving her to walk alone, grinning to her herself.

* * *

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: You guys have no idea how many issues this chapter has given me! Writing these two, keeping them in character, while developing their relationship is crazy hard. No wonder there are so few stories out there for them.
> 
> Lemme know what you guys thought, 'cause this is where the development takes its roots


	4. The Fourth Fault

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Honestly, by the end of the chapter, the two characters had just taken over completely and were writing themselves. Also, in my head-canon, I'd like to think it's somewhere after this event that Todoroki goes to visit his mother (though it's a bit of a stretch, so feel free to imagine what you will)
> 
> Sorry about the really wonky update schedule guys. I'm basically finishing off the last few chapters of the story these days- I'm trying to get them out of the way before exams start in a month's time >.>  
> Writing so much tends to just blur all the days into one and I lose track of time :P
> 
> Also, I'm planning on keeping this story up on Fanfiction slightly ahead of the one on AO3, purely because FF is my starting point, and it's thanks to it that I'm on AO3 at all (even though the people on AO3 are so freaking nice! Thanks to everyone for the wonderful feedback!)  
> I'll obviously be updating this AO3 copy regularly as well, so don't worry! It'll be just one step behind! 
> 
> Thank you to FictionPadfoot for their absolutely incredible editing, and to jilnachtaugen, whose proofreading never fails to reassure me that my chapter is, in fact, publish worthy (you can find both of em on FF). Thank you!

* * *

  **The Fourth Fault**

* * *

 

Life had started to fall into place for Momo Yaoyorozu.

She had skimmed through the most concise of the books and had a general idea of how fighting with technique was supposed to play out. Earlier in the day she had gone around asking her classmates if they knew a methodical way for combat. She was surprised to discover that everyone had learned some sort of organized martial art, whether that be karate, judo or pieces of MMA, with the exception of Uraraka, just as Todoroki had predicted; she chose to wing it because things 'somehow usually work out in the end'.

Ashido and Jiro proved to be especially helpful. Jiro had learned forms of karate, plus the wild card of street fighting, and Ashido proved to have a very good grasp at the art of Wing-Chun, a dodging art-form. The sports lesson with these two had proved to be so beneficial that she asked them both to join her after school to help her train, but they both turned her down due to afterschool commitments. (Jiro had a part-time job she had to get to, and Mina apparently lived very far away, and staying behind would push her entire daily routine back a couple of hours.) But they both promised to help out during the daily exercise class.

And so, as per current daily routine, Yaoyorozou made her way straight towards the virtual rooms after school, already changed into her sportswear. She dumped her bags into her self-assigned corner and switched on the computer, charging up her simulation program.

And that was how Todoroki found her come 5pm, halfway through a session. He quietly watched by the doorway, only approaching her once it was done.

"What was that, Level 1?" he asked, watching her rapidly swivel around to face him, her eyes wide, clearly unaware of his presence.

"Level 3." Momo said, trying to calm down her rapidly pounding heart, still breathless from the workout. "How much did you see?" She asked this with a slight reserve to her voice which she immediately cringed at. It was a tone her mother had referred to as 'the cheeky child'; a subtle rise in pitch, which made one think she was up to something, when in actuality she was feeling exceptionally nervous.

"Not much." He said, stepping forward, and Yaoyorozu's hand flew to her left elbow. "How many levels are there?"

"5." She watched as he examined the screen, very conscious of the fact that her score and technique breakdown were flashing in bright neon green.

"73%?" he asked, reading the score.

"I improved by 12." she blurted, feeling the need to defend herself. "Not bad for an amateur after a couple of weeks, right?" The ice prodigy gave a quiet hum of agreement, completely unaware of her inner turmoil. Momo watched him study everything for a while more before speaking. "Do you wanna try?"

Todoroki blinked, and turned to look at her, and she figured she'd hit the nail on the head. He looked back at the monitor and after giving the machine a final perusing, finally nodded. "Why not." He moved over to let her enter settings for his turn. The half-n-half pre-hero watched her mostly silently, face as stoic as ever, with a few interjections here and there, like "Make it level 5" or "The trajectories should be random".

"Alright, and no quirk during this thing."

Momo smothered a giggle as Todoroki's eyebrows flattened and his lips thinned in an apparent sulk, clearly not liking that a chance for showing off had been taken away. He huffed out an unenthusiastic 'fine' and got into position. She hit the enter button and stood to the side, waiting as the machine counted down.

And then it started.

There was an immediate difference in intensity. Whereas the difference in level 1 and 3 had been pretty much only an increase in speed, level 5 was exponentially different. Holographic projectiles came at the half-n-half user from all directions, with varying speeds, irregular dimensions and non-linear paths of motion.

But more impressive than the program was Todoroki himself.

The first set of beams shot off so fast that Yaoyorozu would've probably had to send a prayer to the heavens to ever have the lightening reflexes to avoid it. Todoroki's body snapped into action. The second his eyes tracked the flow, his entire torso flexed as he twisted and dropped to the ground as another projectile flashed mere inches over his head. His toes barely touched the tile when his fingers shoved him back into the air as the heat and ice user catapulted over the second set. He was nothing short of grace and power, the forceful might this boy contained was flawlessly held in perfect control. A holographic projectile bounced off a jagged trajectory and zapped his side and Todoroki cursed as he rolled in time to dodge another right on his heels

Although he stumbled once, his performance was nothing short of incredible. Beautiful, almost. He was in continuous motion, eyes flicking to all corners of the arena and on high alert. It was like a surreal sort of dance, with him back flipping, corkscrew-style, and then spinning mid-air to land with a flourish of his hands, balance near-perfect. Again and again he dodged, vaulted and careened through the air, catapulting himself over and under, all the while not uttering a sound.

Finally, the siren blared, signaling the end. He got up from his final, kneeling position, breathing quite heavily, sweat making its way down his face. He looked over at her, and the intensity of his bright eyes almost floored her. A hypnotizing pool of excitement, a beacon of energy depicting a high, as if a previous alcoholic now a year clear was just offered a glass of sparkling champagne. Beads of sweat made their way down his skin which was flushed in a way it got only after a satisfactory workout.

Momo offered him a reserved, gentle smile, indicating the scoreboard.

"91%," He huffed, still slightly breathless, leaning in to study the finer details. "Barely an A."

Yaoyorozu studied his face, searching for any indication as to what he was thinking, but as always, his expression gave away nothing. Todoroki absently raised his towel to wipe off some of the perspiration that was starting to gather at his hairline, the action pushing his fringe to the side in that haphazard way she'd seen it before, back when she'd broken her nose. And that unlikely motion jogged her memory and she left his side to make her way over to her bag.

"Probably because I wasn't using my quirk." He was still mumbling to himself as she came back. "Still room for improvement. Should've gotten an S…"

"You do realize how patronizing that sounds?" Momo cut across his monologuing dryly, handing him over a small, folded piece of cloth.

Todoroki looked at it. "What's this?"

She gave him a bland look. "The towel you gave me before. Remember? For my nose?"

"Ah." It dawned on him. "You cleaned it?"

Momo put her free hand on her hip. "Well, yeah, it was covered in my blood. Sorry it took so long, I kept forgetting to put it in my bag." He turned back to the monitor, switching it off, and grabbed the jacket he'd discarded on the floor. "Go on, take it." She insisted.

The ice hero straightened up, crinkling one eye, mouth turning into a lopsided grimace. "I have this one." He indicated the towel around his neck. "You keep it."

She gaped at him as he walked passed.

"What? I cleaned it and everything!"

"I'd rather not have something previously soaked in someone else's blood." He called, now at the doorway, picking up his bags, which he'd thrown next to hers. "Let's go Yaoyorozu. Time to lock up."

Yaoyorozu huffed out a sigh. "Could've mentioned that yesterday." She muttered under her breath, following him out the door.

The two of them had somehow fallen into the norm of leaving together. They both always stayed until 5pm closing time, when U.A. forcefully kicked them out, and it had become an unspoken rule that they would leave with the other. It didn't usually happen that they'd interact before then, completely immersed as they were in their respective workouts.

It was on this particular walk, while Momo was discussing the use and necessity of accessory equipment for a hero, that she was interrupted by Todoroki's stomach growling. Loudly.

There was a moment of silence where everything just froze.

Yaoyorozu stared at him, mouth still open from her debate. Todoroki stiffened as his pupils shrunk to horrified points, giving his eyes an ethereal, translucent look. Then she inhaled, and time restarted. The ice user gave a strange, awkward movement where he half-coughed, half-palmed his face, like he didn't quite know what to do with his hands. He dragged his palm down slowly in utter mortification, all the while muttering profanities to unknown entities; Momo had her jaw dropped in disbelief, eyes slowly gathering light, excitement building as if just hearing their pop quiz results were out early.

"Is it possible?" she breathed.

"Don't start, Yaoyorozu." He huffed.

"Is Shoto Todoroki…."

"Seriously, just let it go."

" _Actually…"_

"Yaoyo-"

" _Hungry?_ "

Todoroki let out a growl of frustration, rolling his eyes skyward, cursing the boys in his class to the depths of the abyss.

Somehow, word had gotten around that Yaoyorozu was staying after school for training (although he didn't recall this being breaking news when  _he'd_ started staying back). This resulted in every guy, knowing he stayed after school as well (again, no one had blinked when they found out  _he_ stayed behind), pestering him for details. The details pertaining to everything ranging from what clothes she wore to whether or not they got any physical spar action on to what kind of sounds she made when training, and if it was possible for him to get a recording of it (needless to say Mineta got his mouth frozen shut for that).

They were relentless.

Apparently one of the most popular girls in their year training (like every blasted pre-hero in this school _should_  be doing) instigated this kind of insanity.

And they were  _everywhere,_ from the hallways to the cafeteria to the vending machines. Forget eating, just having a moment's peace had been a luxury stripped away.

It had only been thanks to Iida distracting everyone by floating to the ceiling, as he tried intervening during a typical Class 1A scuffle. He had been accidentally hit by Uraraka's anti-gravity (which she had activated in an attempt to stop Bakugo from pulverizing a quaking Mineta). His flailing hands had accidentally flipped her skirt ever so slightly, which had doubled the chaos and Todoroki had been able to slip away to the roof.

And that's how he'd been left foodless for the entire day, due to a ludicrous reason he'd never divulge, ever. This, however, still left him facing the current humiliating and degrading situation he'd currently been thrown in.

"This is a special occasion; it's not every day an average being such as myself can witness the almighty Todoroki  _eating_ -"

"I eat everyday, Yaoyorozu."

Momo however, was far past listening. She had begun a rant, sounding objective, like a mother listing off a checklist before her son left home for college. "But don't you worry, I have you covered. I know all the best places to eat. Most of them are cafés though and aren't nearly filling enough, although I'll have to show you Café Grapé's Strawberry Swirl Shake one day; it's heaven. But if we have to eat, it's definitely going to have to be at Du Coin. They're relatively new, but their food is absolutely  _incredible."_

Or more like a mother with a large pile of coupons.

"I'll have to pass."

This was a mistake, he realized too late, as she turned her sparkling eyes to him. "No, Todoroki, you don't understand, their food is on a different level. I swear, it's enlightening. I've been so many times, and I try something new each sitting, and I've yet to find a dish I don't like. Their ravioli, their shrimp, their lasagna, their-" She let out a gasp of pure excitement. "You can try their calzone! You haven't lived until you've tried their  _calzone_!"

Someone give this girl a sedative. Please. "Really, Yaoyorozu, going into town will just take too long, and we have homework today-"

"Oh,  _today_  you remember homework?" Shoto had never seen the black-haired girl so passionate before. It was quite scary. "How can someone choose  _studying_ over a chance to  _eat?_ "

Was this the same girl who had been close to tears just days ago when he had said he barely touched his school books? Honestly, he just wanted to avoid going downtown. Buying a cold cheese and ham sandwich from a nearby convenience store was something he'd much rather do. At this point, even stale bread seemed heavenly.

"Todoroki," His eyes snapped back to the girl currently demanding attention. Her eyebrows were drawn together, creating the smallest crease between them. Her cheeks were flushed from uncontained excitement and her skin seemed to glow. Her dark eyes were large and bright and unblinking. He felt his mouth go dry. "A calzone. Picture it. The perfect crust, the melted cheese, the smell of garlic and oregano-"

"I….I really don't think-"

His stomach gave another, loud rumble. Momo's face had split open into a brilliant smile, the essence of happiness. Betrayed by his own body. Todoroki let out a long, hard sigh.

He needed more training.

And that was how they found themselves currently on the public bus, making their way to the central shopping and food center. Todoroki had made his way to the far end of the vehicle and slumped down as low as the seat allowed him, pulling the collar of his jacket as far up as it would go. Momo sat next to him, as prim and proper as he was rag-hazard. If Momo didn't know any better, she'd have thought he was trying to hide himself. She watched people get onto the bus, and shoot him looks, before beginning to mutter amongst themselves. He sighed through his nose and turned to look out the window.

"So how come you're hungry today? Lunch lady out of food by the time you made it downstairs?"

Ah, the dreaded question. But he was prepared. "Were you not in class today? I don't think anyone could have eaten there."

Momo gave an exasperated sigh. "Why is our class absolutely insane? Class B seems so contained and civil in comparison."

Crisis successfully averted. "It's that grape. He's the culmination of all things evil." Todoroki said, glowering darkly.

"Grape? Do you mean Mineta?" Yaoyorozu smothered giggles. He remained silent, not wanting to waste his precious energy talking about  _Mineta_  of all things. He rested his chin on his palm, elbow propped up on the bus's window sill. The window was open, the wind rushing through his hair. He closed his eyes, absorbing the feel of cool air hitting his skin. The sunlight wasn't a scorching one, half hidden behind large, white clouds, making for a bright, yet gentle sky.

Maybe this outing wasn't such a bad idea.

"Excuse me?" Both teens looked up. A middle aged woman was standing next to their seat, holding onto one of the support rings. "Are you Shoto Todoroki?"

The boy in question sat up straighter and lowered his arm slowly from the window onto his lap. "Yes."

"My sons watched your match at the U.A. sports tournament. One of them was hit with a piece of concrete your explosion sent flying."

Yaoyorozu seemed absolutely taken aback by the casual way she had admitted Todoroki being the cause of a rather serious accident. But the boy in question didn't miss a beat and immediately lowered his head in her direction. "I am very sorry to hear that. I do hope U.A. gave you the fullest care as reimbursement for your support."

"Oh no, sweetheart, that's not what I meant," she waved his formal apology away. "Some hero had made it so anything that came flying towards us felt like feathers. I was just wondering though; could you perhaps sign it for him? The concrete, I mean. He's such a fan."

Him? Sign concrete? Well that was something you didn't hear every day.

Someone a few seats away had pulled out a camera. Todoroki took the piece of rock the woman was holding out and, for only a moment, he just stared at it, processing the fact that this meant she'd been carrying the stone around for the last three weeks or so. Then she handed over a marker as well, smiling expectantly.

"You want  _my_ signature?" he asked.

"If you'd please." She confirmed.

He looked down at the rock, then back up at her again. "Not Endeavor's?  _Mine?_ "

The woman gave him a happy nod.

With all the uncertainty of the world, he wrote his name on the piece of rock, feeling completely out of his depth and very much a pompous imbecile. If his father could see him now… With almost imperceptible hesitation, he gave it back to the woman, who began thanking him endlessly.

And then it started.

"Wait, Todoroki-kun, can you sign this too?"

"Yeah, mine as well!"

"Can I please get a picture?"

"My sister's on the phone right now, can you just say hi?"

Almost instantly, an assortment of items was thrust into his immediate vision and the noise level skyrocketed. People began shoving and tripping over as those further back tried elbowing others to make way. He exchanged a glance with Yaoyorozu, who still seemed at a loss for words. Hesitantly, he took the first object, a handkerchief, signed it, and then proceeded to the next. He winced as a flash went off from somewhere in the crowd.

"I'm sorry, but could you take a picture of us together?" Shoto paused the signing as he looked up at a girl addressing Yaoyorozu. A sudden, illogical panic welled within him as he watched the girl replace Momo as the latter stood up. The girl sat her bum down and shuffled it back until she was pressed up against him (his left eyebrow twitched), and then struck a pose. Todoroki stiffened up completely, never being exposed to so much physical contact with anyone in his life, a pen and a stranger's phone case held tightly in his hands. Momo took the picture, and then shot him an amused, self-satisfied look.

"Sorry about his face," she said, giving the phone back to the girl. "It's always like that. Please don't take it personally."

The panic disappeared, only to be replaced with an irritated expression. Darned Yaoyorozu.

The picture appeared to make things worse, and the crowd seemed to double, in both size and intensity. Had there even been this many people on the bus in the first place?

"Todoroki, our stop is almost here." He heard Yaoyorozu call out over the hoard. He started sidling along the seat towards her, signing off one last book and being cornered with a few more pictures as he did.

"Todoroki-kun, you haven't signed my case yet!"

"Is that your girlfriend? She's so pretty!"

"Todoroki-kun, my sister's still on the phone, if you could only just say something back-"

"Todoroki, if you're such an incredible hero, why didn't you hold back against Midoriya?"

Todoroki felt his spine go rigid. He looked up, eyes instantly locking with a young boy, not much younger than him probably, who was the only one not pushing and shoving trying to get Shoto-memorabilia, and met his gaze dead on.

"'Held back'?" he echoed, croaking out words for the first time since the onslaught started.

"This is it, Todoroki!" he heard Momo call over. She was already by the doors. "We're getting off here."

He distractedly resumed pushing through the crowd. But the boy continued, talking loudly. "Clearly your quirk was much stronger. You just drew out the fight when you could have easily ended it much sooner. That's not very heroic. He was burnt to a crisp by the end of it; you could see how blackened his arm and leg were. That's probably permanent damage. You've destroyed someone's future."

Shoto stopped and stared at him. The entire crowd had fallen silent at this point, and almost every phone held out was recording.

That wasn't what happened. He knew that. And yet, just then, he couldn't think of anything to say. He just looked at the judgement and hate in the boy's eyes and something inside him clammed up.

It reminded him of the way his mother used to look at him, in those dark moments near the end. He'd gotten better though. He'd tried so hard; he'd given up his left side, he'd thrown away his father completely. It hadn't been the best plan, but at least he'd done  _something._ He'd dedicated his life to becoming the hero his mother always wanted him to be. He tried so hard to never have anyone ever _, ever_ look at him that way again.

And yet, here-

His inner thoughts were halted as a gentle pressure landed on his shoulder. His head snapped up, and saw Yaoyorozu looking at him, motioning for him to leave the bus. "Let's go, Todoroki." Her voice was firm. The doors had opened. Wordlessly, he got off.

"Oh, and kid," Momo stayed back, singling out the boy, voice firm. "Go watch the match online somewhere again. Get your facts straight. Then come back, find Todoroki and give him an apology." And with a swish of her ponytail, she left the bus as well.

A few people got off with them, but luckily, they didn't approach the pair, just choosing to wave as they passed. Momo reciprocated. Todoroki, however, was deaf to the world, his eyes slightly glazed over not paying them any attention at all. Momo glanced over at him, hand still raised, fingers curling absently. His gaze was rooted to the pavement, and she could see pulsations over the side of his cheek as he grit his teeth continuously. Even his hands, stuffed in his pant pockets, were bulging with the telltale mass of a clenched fist.

Yaoyorozu mentally cursed that frivolous boy on the bus once more. Talk about not reading the mood. Although it obviously wasn't a way he'd have imagined spending his afternoon, the slight upward curl of his lips had been indication enough that Todoroki had actually been enjoying the situation, somewhat. Until, of course, someone with the tact and respect of a neanderthal decided to butt it.

Regardless, she was going to fix this.

"What in the world  _was_ that?" she asked, in slight wonderment, her tone as light and carefree as she could make it. He didn't say anything, although he could feel her gaze on him. When he didn't respond, Momo sighed inaudibly.

"Would you like to just go home?"

"No." His response was immediate, but his voice cracked and came out slightly higher than he'd have liked. He cleared his throat. "No. We've come this far."

She gave his shoulder a light thump. "That's the spirit! Now let's get you some food."

As if in response, his stomach gave a light growl. His mouth gave a weak upward twitch and she let out a quiet giggle. Yaoyorozu began leading the way, and without a word, he followed. Todoroki let her stay just a step ahead of him, mind still reeling from the recent encounter. Having a plethora of emotions swirling within him never did good things for anyone. He wasn't good with emotions. For most of the walk, he was quiet. The young hero could see his companion shooting him furtive glances out of the corner of her eye, but never once did she breech silence. She was letting him have his space, and he felt a surge of gratitude.

"It's been like this ever since the tournament." He said finally, feeling like he owed her some sort of explanation. "Although never quite like that…"

"Being in the tournament ourselves, we kinda forgot just how big the U.A. sports festival truly is." Momo said delicately. "The exposure we get is more than we could have ever imagined…" She turned her head to give him an apologetic look. "And that's why you were so reluctant on coming today. Sorry for forcing you. I wasn't thinking." He gave a one-sided shrug. "But no! It'll be worth it, I swear this to you!"

"It better be." It came out sounding more desolate and ungrateful than he'd wanted, but she took it in stride.

"If it isn't, I'll have the chef's head served to us next." She said. "Plus, it's a weekday, so hopefully, the center won't be too crowded-"

They rounded the corner, and Todoroki had to apply every reflex to avoid running into Momo as she suddenly stopped. He followed her gaze to watch the large, bustling gathering of people extending as far as the center ran.

"It's like a bad joke." She mumbled awkwardly. "It seems… even  _more_  packed than usual." A few people close by noticed them and started whispering. Todoroki looked at the ground.

He wasn't a social animal by nature. He tended to stay to himself, and preferred it that way, not having to worry about images or what people thought or pretending to be someone he wasn't. He'd known on some level that after U.A., he'd have somewhat of a name - hopefully his own and not his father's - and that people would know  _him_ for  _his_ achievements. But that was much later, after graduation, and perhaps a year of hero work as well. This was too soon, and unwanted, and unexpected. He'd underestimated what being strong meant in the world of heroes. What standing out meant. What being Endeavor's son meant…

Would he have to live this life of scrutiny from now on? Were the peaceful days he was used to gone for good? Could he no longer take his time going from place to place, just watching the world thrive? Was it over just like that? He didn't like this central life, with the masses orbiting around him. He didn't want to be in the center if it meant feeling this alone. He didn't -

Suddenly, a warm, soft touch cleared his mind; like a single drop bringing ripples on the surface of a still lake. Todoroki's gaze shifted over to look down at the fist he hadn't even known he'd made, now encircled by another, smaller hand. Momo's touch was gentle, but firm, and he watched, transfixed, as slowly, his fist uncurled and her hand slid comfortably into his.

And it was the strangest sight he'd ever seen.

"I have an idea." He heard her say softly, and he felt her tug loosely for him to follow, which he did.

She'd given him tunnel vision. All around him, people were looking at him and muttering as they always did, but he didn't notice. Instead his attention was focused fully on her, and her hand ( _was it even possible for hands to be this soft?)_ holding his _._

And almost as soon as she'd touched him, Yaoyorozu let go.

"Wait here for a second."

He watched numbly as she opened the door to a shop and disappeared inside. And just as his vision of her was cut, so did the sounds of the world come flooding back in. Chest tightening uncomfortably, he turned around, slowly, to face the world. Most people hadn't really noticed him, just the odd few who were closest to him; although they had begun pointing. And as always, pointing attracted the attention of other people.

He couldn't stand this.

The ice user began pacing in front of the door Yaoyorozu had disappeared behind. What was taking her so long? What was she even doing? Weren't they supposed to be eating something right now? His stomach gave a distant growl. He growled right back. This was all those  _idiots'_ fault. If only he'd had something to eat, he'd have never been here in the first place. What humiliation. What mortification. What disgrace-

A drop rippled the surface.

The touch was back. This time, he whirled around to face her, his eyes wide, but she silently dragged him a few steps forward, before pulling him into a narrow alley between two buildings and dropped her hold. Her hands then glowed with the telltale activation of her quirk, and she proceeded to seal their entrance with a large plank, cutting them off from view. He released a breath he hadn't realized he'd been holding, his expression a rare, vulnerable one of relief.

Yaoyorozu grinned, clearly proud of herself. "Wear this." She said, brandishing her latest buy; a black beanie. He took it meekly from her hands. He stared at it for a few moments, then looked at her.

"I don't wear ski caps." He said.

"What? Why not?" she asked, upset. "Is it too hot?"

"No," He ran his thumb over its fabric. "Ski caps make my hair flat."

A heartbeat. Then she burst into laughter. Todoroki tried holding in a frown. He failed to see what was so funny, watching imperviously as she clutched her abdomen. Clearly him being the butt of some internal joke was causing her physical pain, yet she didn't stop, and neither could he find it within himself to feel angry.

"What?" he asked, once she had calmed down a little, frown winning over and planting itself firmly on his face. She wiped away tears.

"No, it's just," she spluttered, laughter fading into smaller giggles. "To hear someone like you have an issue that's so…shallow." The knot between his eyebrows was back. "So mundane." He felt a vein pop. "So  _normal._ " He blinked. "I don't know, it was just unexpected is all. Kind of a relief, to be honest." Momo's smile was so genuine and kind, and he found himself looking back down at the hat. How irksome.

The hat itself was a plain black one, which he assumed she'd chosen because she didn't want to risk buying something he wouldn't like. That was logical enough; one couldn't go wrong with black. She was being thoughtful. How tedious.

"The secret to avoiding  _flat hat hair,_ " Her eyes twinkled up at him. "Is to just muss your hair up a bit, or flip it in the opposite direction to how you'd normally part it.  _Then_  you wear it."

He looked at her skeptically, before raising a hand, hesitating for just a moment before ruffling his hair completely. She doubled back in laughter again. Todoroki shot her an annoyed look through haywire bangs and instantly ran a hand back through, trying to fix the damage. How utterly pointless. She was definitely playing him for a fool. His stomach growled again and he felt his mood deteriorate by the second.

"Alright here, lemme fix it." She stepped forward and began poofing up just the hair at the crown of his head.

For a while, Todoroki had the small dilemma of where he was supposed to direct his gaze. All he could see were bits of her; her ear, her eyes, her cheek, her hair; eventually, he resolved to closing his eyes completely. Of course, that left him with the chore of trying to ignore the feeling of having her fingers run through his hair, and the sound of her breath coming out in little whiffs as she focused. Finally, the woe of his present existence pulled away, having gently set the hat for him, studying him like he was her finest piece of art.

"There." Yaoyorozu chirped. "It's definitely the hair; it's too iconic. No one will spare your averageness a second glance now." He wished he shared her optimistic outlook. "Now come on, let's go out this way." She said, walking deeper into the alley. He frowned, watching as she began stepping over rotting crates and crushed cans, and it struck him how improper that looked. A person as dignified as Yaoyorozu should never have to take a back alley to anywhere.

But before he could call her back, she rounded the corner and motioned for him to follow.

They finally made it back into daylight. While people weren't staring blatantly or muttering to each other or pointing anymore, some were still glancing his way. And those who did quickly averted their eyes, like they'd been caught doing something improper. He frowned for a moment before his heart sank.

His scar. How could he have forgotten?

He turned to look at himself in the neighboring store's glass window. Now, without his hair covering, it was all the more apparent; a mark permanently branded into his skin. Something dark and coarse and ugly. Something he hated; a reminder that his memories of a mother were just a figment of hope he himself had created.

"What's wrong?" Yaoyorozu had noticed he wasn't following her and came up to stand next to him. Her faultless reflection next to his was too much for him. Reflexively, he pulled down on the hat, trying to cover the left side of his face. This was why he grew bangs.

"Nothing." He muttered. She watched him a bit, in a way that made him feel uncomfortable; like she could see everything, through all the walls he'd put up, deep into his soul.

"Todoroki," she said, ever so softly. "It's just a scar."

He gritted his teeth, shoulders hunching. He didn't think anyone had ever voiced it out loud, outside his family. Everyone he met just chose to ignore it, and rightly so; he'd made sure there were other things to focus on. No one had ever gotten close enough to him to notice his personality. And a good thing too. Closeness meant feeling… exposed. Vulnerable.

"Hey, come on, don't do that." Yaoyorozu said, and he inhaled sharply as he felt her oh so softly grip his arm and lower it from his face. She gazed up at him, and he tilted his left side away from her. He could see out of the corner of his eye that she was upset. Understandable. ' _Well, that makes two of us._ ' He thought wryly.

Momo then tilted her head, studying him closely and unabashedly, and he still stubbornly refused to meet her eyes. Seconds passed and she continued staring, for so long that the young heir finally exhaled, long and deep, before turning his head back, shooting her a withering, questioning glare, his eyes speaking all the words he didn't want to. This girl had no shame.

"I really don't know what you're worried about." She said, expression back to being clear and happy, which relieved him more than he'd care to admit. "I think it looks cool."

He stared at her.

The creation heroine twisted on her heel, hands clamped behind her back. "Pun not intended." She added over her shoulder. He blinked.

All his life, his scar had been an anchoring point to negativity. The only thing it had ever meant to him was violence and anger, a reminder of a grudge to never forget. It symbolized a psychological trauma that spread across a whole generation. To have something so intrinsic to his past be put so lightly; it was like she had never seen any darkness in him. It was like he was normal, and always had been.

With a start, he thought that this was probably what Midoriya had meant when he said his nickname 'Deku' had been turned from something scarring to something uplifting.

Todoroki watched her with a newfound fascination, studying the harmonious way she walked. The way her hair swayed with each step, a poof of soft, messy perfection; the swell of her hips, the slenderness of her shoulders; an elegance she presented even when in gym clothes. He didn't know how she'd done it. But suddenly, all his worries shrunk into something trivial. Like he didn't even know why he had been so frustrated in the first place.

"Let's go get a place to sit, Todoroki."

The creation heroine's words snapped him out of his trance and he gave a slight jerk, the world coming back into focus, and with it, a lightness to his soul. He stuffed his hands deep, deep into his pockets, and turned his head to face the floor, hiding the large, inexplicably happy smile donning his lips. Todoroki let out a breath of uncertain joy, and then several more; a quiet laugh with himself.

Finally, he looked up again, smile still on his face, to see her turned around and staring at him. Noticing he had looked up, she quickly turned away, her cheeks staining a rosy pink. He smiled crookedly, his muscles still not used to the expression, and he stepped over to join her, something stirring within, somewhere deep down, and previously untouched.

Something he wasn't ready to acknowledge anytime soon.

* * *

"Well?" Momo pressed. "Best calzone you've ever had, right?"

Todoroki chewed, thinking it over. He swallowed. "It's alright."

She dropped her hands on her table, making the cutlery clatter noisily, and people from neighboring tables shot them looks. Shoto just mentally rolled his eyes, focusing entirely on his piece, by now well used to her over-reactions when it came to food.

"' _Alright'_?!" She repeated indignantly. He nodded.

"I've had better." He added. Honestly, now he was just baiting her to try and see how many colors she could turn within the span of a minute. Todoroki took another bite. Momo's mouth flapped open and closed noiselessly, her eyes practically bulging; a very good impression of a pufferfish. A solid 9/10.

"' _Better'_?!" Yaoyorozu wheezed out. He nodded sagely. "Where? Where is this place so I can go myself and completely disagree with you?"

"It's on the other side of town." Todoroki said, after swallowing. She frowned. "I suppose I can bring one for you at some point."

She liked that idea.

"So… was it worth the trip?" the black-haired girl asked, looking slightly nervous, looking down at her plate as she said this.

Todoroki didn't answer immediately, taking another bite, glancing around. The restaurant was chique, and screamed of a non-flamboyant, subtle wealth. He hadn't ever been down here before, tucked away as it was, a tiny door between two other shops, invisible unless taken to. Once inside, the place was actually quite big, with a back door that led to some sort of outside eating space as well.

They had found themselves a seat in the back corner, and away from any direct line of sight, which he considered a huge blessing. No one looked their way at all. And just then, her gaze was the only one he'd accept; unjudgmental and open. He swallowed.

"Well," He said, finally answering her question. "I'm not hungry anymore."

"Is that a yes?" she asked.

"What do you think?" he asked back, taking another bite. She straightened, her food still lying half touched in front of her.

"There's no straight answer with you is there?" Momo watched him intently as he finished off the last of his meal, and then lean back in his chair, thoroughly satisfied. He was so content then that he almost forgave their class for the disruption today. (Almost.)

"You really were hungry." She said amusedly, finally taking another bite from her plate.

"Famished." He agreed.

"Is this going to be an everyday thing? Should I bring in extra cash for your lunch as well now?"

"Shouldn't be necessary."

"Wait a minute," she said after a moment of comfortable silence, a thought occurring to her. "Does this mean you did  _that well_ on that simulation program while having an empty stomach?"

Todoroki huffed. "I didn't do that well. I should have gotten an S rank, and definitely past 95% at the very least."

"There you go again with your total disregard for other people's feelings." He raised an eyebrow at her in question. "I scored 73, remember." Momo said, looking miffed.

"That makes sense." He ignored the angry look she shot him. "You've only just learned how to dodge. Considering that, 73 is better than expected. I've been fine-tuning my skills for years now. I should be perfect, especially when gauged on some two-bit machine."

"Well, when you put it like that…" Momo finished off the last of her food. "Yeah, you need practice." He shot her a look, which she didn't notice as she stood up. "Well, I think that's it for today."

He blinked. "What about the bill?"

She pulled her bag over her head and grinned. "I told them to put it on my tab." And before he could get a word in, she was out the door. Clicking his tongue irritably, he grabbed his bag and followed her.

"How much was my share?"

She gave an indignant laugh. "Hah! Like I'm letting you pay. This was my treat."

"Don't be ridiculous." He snapped, reaching for his wallet. "Now tell me how much-" But as his hands tapped at his pockets, they came up empty. She gave him a knowing smirk.

"See? It was meant to be. Just let it go."

"Yaoyorozu, stop with the formalities, this is-"

"Todoroki." She stopped, looking him dead in the eyes. "It was my idea to drag you out here. You had to go through some rather…unfortunate confrontations you wouldn't have had to if it wasn't for me. It was my fault, my idea. So just, let me make up for it, alright?" he opened his mouth to argue. "Please?"

She continued walking, leaving him staring blankly at the cobblestone pathway. She had noticed. Even though he was sure he had been hiding it, and had been sure that no one really noticed, she  _had_. And she had blamed herself for whatever demons he was dealing with. So much so that she had to  _pay_  for his  _meal_ like some child in need.

He was pathetic.

* * *

"You can't still be upset about the whole money thing." She said with a sigh, walking the streets of the shopping center, shooting him a sullen look. He looked away. "This was a one-time thing. You'll pay me back one day. That other calzone's on you."

"My sister owns that place; I'd be getting it for free."

She blinked. Well, she hadn't been expecting that dynamic. "Well, you'll find another way I'm sure."

"If I'm going to pay you back eventually, might as well be now."

"You don't have your wallet." She answered cheekily. He was about to say something before she walked through a pair of sliding doors.

"Where are you going?" he asked, following her inside without thinking.

"What, you didn't think I came downtown  _just_ to feed you, right?" she shot him a playful smile over her shoulder. "You were just a detour on a trip I was already taking."

"This is ridiculous." He muttered, glowering angrily.

They had entered a drug store and he felt exceptionally out of his element as she picked up a basket, leading the way amicably to the self-care section. He hunched his shoulders as they passed by an aisle full of tampons and pregnancy tests. Other customers had begun to shoot looks, although he was sure this time it was less because of him, and more that two teenagers had entered the place together. "What business could you possibly have here?"

"My mother needed a few things." She said. She looked over at him, watching his wary glances down the aisles. "You  _can_ leave, you know?"

He hmph-ed. "And walk away as if my only motive was getting a free meal? My chivalry has already taken enough of a beating today."

She glanced at him as he determinedly looked anywhere but at her. So that was the root of it all. He felt that, as the male in the duo,  _he_  should be taking care of things for  _her_. She tried containing her smile. She was suddenly glad he had forgotten his wallet. His pride needed to learn that a woman could lead every once in a while. Although what he said had left her quite flattered.

"You're rich, right? Shouldn't you be able to afford people to do this for you?" Todoroki asked suddenly.

"I don't think that's something one generally says to a person, Todoroki." She said absently, picking up a face lotion of some sort, and comparing it with another tube of practically the exact same sort.

"My family is rich too, so I can say what I want on the subject."

"Well, if you must know," she put both tubes back, and picked up another one he swore was exactly the same, but red, and threw that in instead. "We don't trust them getting us the right product. Plus, the prices are really good here."

"Again, is that something you need to worry about?"

"Having lots of money just makes us want to save it all the more." Yaoyorozu, top student that she was, would have sounded infinitely more wise if she'd backed up her words with actions. Instead she had gone around the entire day spending like-

His eyes suddenly widened and he pulled off the hat from his head, crackles of static sounding with the motion.

"This!" he exclaimed. "How much was this?"

She waved him off. "Hardly cost anything." He sighed in frustration. She was such a classic 'rich parents' only child'. Then Yaoyorozu looked at him and broke out into giggles, muffling them behind her hand, pointing at his hair. A wave of foreboding washed over him.

Todoroki strode over to the nearest mirror and sure enough, his fears were confirmed. "I told you this would happen." He grumbled. His hair had indeed flattened, un-flatteringly defining the top of his head, while the ends stood up, charged with electrons. He proceeded to viciously ruffle his hair, creating a soft flurry of white and red, crackling with electricity. She handed him a bottle from her basket.

"It's hair tonic. It should help." He took it.

She watched as he started running his fingers through his hair, scooping the awry strands from his forehead and slicking them back, leaving his face fully open for the first time. Standing to his right, without the scar obstructing his face, Momo was able to study the half-ice-half-fire hero's features properly.

He was actually quite pretty, not at all like Endeavor, what with his sharp, slender jawline, small nose, and the elegant arch of his eyebrows... Too pretty. Maybe the scar was a good thing.

"This is why I hate hats." He said irritably, looking at her then, hair now flicked back, and she felt herself flush at being caught staring, immediately looking away. She knitted her fingers together, feeling suddenly awkward.

"B-But," Darn the high pitched frequency her voice had reached. "You needed it today. Right?" she asked.

Todoroki noticed the edge to her voice. Not the embarrassed edge (he ignored that, because her being awkward made him feel awkward); the edge that showed she wasn't always so self-assured, and that she was in need of consolation. He pulled the hat back on.

Tapping her on the nose with the bottle of gel, she looked up and he gave her a small, calm, reassuring smile.

"I did."

* * *

"Where have you been?"

Momo gave a large jump at the sudden breach of her thoughts. She had been closing the front door to the house when her mother's voice came from the living room. She turned to look at the older woman's reflection in the large wall mirror; she was sitting on her favorite spot on the wide, leather couch. Her mother loved that spot, and, since she wanted also to able to see whoever entered their home, had placed a mirror on the opposite wall.

"Mother! You scared me. I'm not used to you being home before me."

"Don't change the subject."

Yaoyorozu sighed. "I went to buy your lotion." She said, dismissively, walking passed the living room to the kitchen.

"The  _full_  truth, Momo."

 _'Oh for Pete's sake._ ' The young heroine, dumping the shopping bag onto the table in exchange for grabbing an apple from the basket of fruit on the kitchen island. She made her way back to the living room. "I went out to get some food with a friend before that. I'm sorry it took so long. It won't happen again."

Her mother stared at her, gaze stone cold, sizing her up as she placed the bag of drug store products, glasses glinting in the sharp lights. Momo stared lightly back, well used to the behavior. Finally, her mother tilted her chin up. "Make sure it doesn't. There will be consequences."

Momo sighed at her mother's clipped, formal tone. "Yes mother." She bit into the apple, half expecting the lecture to continue, probably to elaborate on those consequences. But instead, her mother had begun staring at the opposite wall. Strange.

"Is something wrong?"

Her mother gave a blink of surprise, as if she had already forgotten her daughter was there. She studied her, as if determining whether or not Momo was worth sharing information with. She must have been truly burdened, because finally, Mrs Yaoyorozu spoke up.

"Your father is having an affair."

Momo gaped. The apple fell from her hand.

"…Huh?"

* * *

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Quite a long chapter, sorry about that. Or maybe it was a good thing? I dunno :P


	5. The Fifth Fault

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Thank you SO much to everyone reviewing and dropping likes! Every time I get that notification, I just want to update immediately - and so I then spend ages editing, mulling things over and end up rewriting almost everything. Basically with every review, know that I edit for a good couple of hours (yes, it takes hours ^^')
> 
> But with every edit we get closer to an update, and that motivation is ALL you guys! Thank you so much!
> 
> But anyway, without further ado, here's the next chapter! (A really long one)  
> And apologies in advance for Jiro's potty-mouth xP

 

* * *

**The Fifth Fault**

* * *

 

"Your father is having an affair."

Momo gaped. The apple fell from her hand. "…Huh?"

"He hasn't come home tonight." Her mother continued.

Slowly, finally, the gears started turning again and her body unfroze itself.

"A…And?" she asked, finding her voice.

"That's it."

Momo couldn't contain the heavy sigh that escaped her lips. She bent over to pick up the apple. "Oh for the love of- Mother, that could be due to any number of reasons."

This was so classic of her mother. A person could have been perfectly honest, followed everything to a T, and yet luck would lead circumstances in such a way that her mother would latch onto it, like a starving dog to prime-rib.

"It could be." Her mother stiffly agreed. "But your father has no reason to leave the house in the first place."

That was true. Mr Yaoyorozu ran a hero-gadget lab attached to the side of the house. His quirk was similar to hers, although not as powerful or specialized. He'd used it as the baseline to build an organization centralized around supplying weapons or gadgets heroes may need. He almost never left the lab, not even for dinner. Any groceries or errands were left for the women and servants to handle. In fact, the last time her father had left had been for her high school admission interview.

So for him to have not just left his lab, but the house entirely, was quite surprising.

"Still, it could be anything. You've got to make sure."

"That's what I plan to do." The Yaoyorozu matriarch said, resuming her task of glaring a hole through the opposite wall.

Momo sighed again.

Satomi Yaoyorozu possessed the nitpick quirk. Easily explained, her mother had the ability to examine anything to its finest detail. This included everything from a crime scene to a simple, guilty tick, no matter how intricate. It wasn't the quirk a superhero could use in battle, and she was immediately denied admission into any superhero courses. But her mother hadn't been swayed, and her passion for justice remain strong. She decided that it would be  _her_ who sentenced the guilty,  _her_ who would find the facts, and  _her_ words that would have them locked up for good.

It had made her into an unparalleled lawyer.

However, justice aside, Momo's life had been very tedious as a result. Whether it be leaving her glass of milk only half finished, not completing her homework or performing poorly on a test, she could never get away with anything.

Back when she had been in preschool, Momo had insisted to be allowed to walk home alone. After her first tantrum (Mrs Yaoyorozu had no tolerance for screaming children) she was granted the request, on the condition that the little girl come straight home. On that very same first day, Momo had tripped and got mud stained all over her dress. That alone was enough for her mother to accuse her of wandering off to the riverside and no matter how many tears she shed, never once was Momo allowed home alone after that.

The first time this changed was after her admission into U.A. high.

All those failed attempts at trickery had taught her to learn how to tell half-truths instead of lies. Even then it wouldn't always work. So Momo had resigned herself to just being particularly quiet and exceptionally perfect. Being perfect meant no need for lies, and no need for scrutiny.

"Just, give him a chance to explain." The young heroine said, and added as an afterthought, "And let me know what happens."

But her mother didn't seem to be listening and had resumed staring at the wall. Momo began walking away, sparing a final glance at her mother from the doorway, before walking to her room.

* * *

Needless to say, Momo was distracted.

Her parents were all she could think about.

Mrs Yaoyorozu had never gotten back to her last night. Not that Momo had been too surprised. Her mother wasn't the type who involved her children in anything; independent and strong to a fault. And Momo hadn't heard her father come in either, although that probably meant he'd gone straight to his office.

She had stayed awake that night, staring unseeingly at the ceiling's flickering shadows as the curtains fluttered in a gentle trickle of air, an endless stream of memories gushing through her brain. Thoughts whirled around her mind, grinding against her skull, loudly and roughly, and she only realized how straining they had truly been when she woke up the next morning, after a restless two hours of sleep, with a pounding headache.

The following school day crawled by at a snails pace. Momo felt herself deteriorate as time passed; she'd read the same line over and over again in her textbook, she barely put up a fight in the exercise class, and didn't raise her hand to answer any questions asked in lessons, instead she spent the hours staring out the window, ignoring the world entirely. Her head just wasn't in the game. She'd speak only when spoken to, and even then with just curt, direct answers, nothing more. Iida came up during third period, reminding her about a student council meeting next week for the upcoming end of term tests, and the thought of having to focus of studies overwhelmed her. She had to take the following math class off and go to the nurse as her headache reached crushing levels.

Momo spent that lunch break alone on the roof.

In the end, she decided to just go home and skip her afternoon training session. With the day she'd had, getting any proper training done was out of the question. Just thinking about hurling herself around the room made her nauseous and quite honestly, this ticked her off.

Why was she having to suffer for something her  _parents_ started? She was losing valuable opportunities.

It was time to rip this toxic weed from the source, roots and all.

She decided to just sit in the kitchen and wait for her mother to come home, all day if she had to; the creation heroine would be getting her answers. And though the wait would be long, Momo decided she could use it to catch up on the extra course she'd been putting off, to help alleviate the burden of exams (there was only slightly less than a month left, after all). Feeling alert for the first time that day, with a goal clear, she nodded resolutely to herself.

As the final bell rang, signaling home time, her eyes scanned over the classroom, in search of the trademark shock of red and white hair. But Todoroki, it seemed, had already left for the training rooms. She debated for a while whether or not to let him know she wouldn't be joining him this afternoon, but then she decided against it.

It was just one day, and Yaoyorozu doubted he'd notice anyway.

* * *

It had been two hours.

Two hours she'd have usually spent  _productively_  in school. Two hours in which Momo had barely made any progress in her work. The vice president had managed to finish her homework, but the extra studying, now piled up in quite daunting amounts, she'd hardly done at all.

The clock ticked on, each click like a small whack to her temporal lobe.

Her mother usually came home at 6-7pm. It was currently 5:30. Todoroki would have locked up by now, after what must have been another productive workout. And knowing her luck, the half-n-half prodigy had probably made astonishing progress today, a breakthrough of breakthroughs, a revelation, since of course, the one day she missed out on something, everyone but her ended up benefiting.

And knowing him, he probably hadn't thought twice about her not being there. Yaoyorozu sighed in irritation, her crossed leg dangling in the air, leaning back into her seat. Her thoughts were suddenly swarmed with cursing the half and half hero and his prodigy-ness, for reasons she didn't care nor have the mental strength to delve into.

The door swung open and Momo was instantly wrenched back into reality, watching as their housemaid came for her final stop in the kitchen. The middle-aged woman ended her shift by cooking dinner and leaving a portion for her father in his lab.

Rose-Marie came in every day, usually leaving as her mother came home, just doing light housework. They had a full-time staff as well, of course, but Rosie had been working for the Yaoyorozus before their breakout into riches, and hence, they kept calling her over, because the poor lady needed it and because they appreciated her work.

Momo stared discreetly at the unsuspecting lady's back.

Not really the most attractive of women, and being a bit on the chubby side; her mother was far more physically fit. But then again, you could never tell with men. After a certain age, they stopped being so picky-

' _Stop it.'_  Momo cursed herself. And then cursed her parents again for making her think such…such incredibly inappropriate, degrading thoughts. She sighed, resting her forehead on her hand, realizing she was cursing a hell of a lot of people that day.

The vice president of 1A hunched back over her books, trying to refocus, but her eyes wouldn't obey. As a hero, they were taught to never rule out any possibility, because anything could happen, for any reason. So if her father was indeed having an...an  _affair_ , and that too, with the  _maid..._  To think her father would drag their name through the mud that way was something that made her gut clench and her blood burn white-hot.

Momo jerked with a start as her pencil nib snapped off from being pressed with such intensity. Her dark eyes flitted back up to the oblivious woman, who had begun humming some foreign tune to herself as she cooked.

"Rosie," she called out over the sizzling of the fryer. "You have kids right?"

"Yes. Twins, Momo-sama."

"So where are they, while you're here? Who takes care of them, I mean?"

At this, Rose-Marie turned. "My husband." she chirped and gave her a beaming smile. Momo returned the gesture, albeit a bit weakly, not that the older woman saw, turning back to the stir-fry. Momo felt her gut clench in an entirely different way - with guilt. That wasn't the smile of someone who'd have an affair. That grin spoke of joy and happiness, in a way that someone knowing they were in the wrong simply couldn't achieve. In a way only someone who was fully happy with life could manage.

How awful these doubts were. How awful this suspicion was.

Surprisingly, the woman continued, ignorant to the inner turmoil that were Momo's thoughts. "Yesterday was payday, so they all came to pick me up, and we had dinner out. It was their birthday last week, you see."

And the forces above had given the lady an alibi.

The young heroine couldn't help the spread of relief bubbling within the coils of her heart, her gut unclenching for the first time as the relief washed in. "Oh, you should have told me! Hang on, I want to give them something as well."

As she hurried over to her room, gears changed and her mental mechanics whirred again at full throttle, mind moving a mile a minute. So it wasn't the maid, thankfully. That, however, opened up the rest of the world for suspects. A large problem would be solved if they could find out where her father had gone the previous night. Of course, her mother was the expert detective so-

Momo froze, her hands clamped around the packet of muffins she had grabbed from her bedside cabinet. Her mother. Her mother hadn't yet told her a thing. She didn't even know if this was an affair they were dealing with in the first place and yet already the young heroine had begun drawing up a list. The plastic crinkled loudly as her grip tightened.

When Momo returned to the kitchen, it was to see Mrs Yaoyorozu had come home. Rose-Marie had set the tray of dinner, a chinese chili stir-fry with garlic chicken, ready for Momo's father. But that wasn't what made Momo hesitate; it was the mood.

Her mother was wearing that look, the one of broiling intensity, which no one could ever look dead in the eye. Her eyes were so precisely narrowed that someone who didn't know her on a basal level might mistake for kindness. But the effect was ruined with the harsh frown she always wore with it, and that alone was enough to confuse anyone. Her eyes flashed at intervals, so quickly that, again, the average onlooker would assume it was just their imagination.

It was Satomi Yaoyorozu's quirk in motion.

Every now and then, her mother would direct Rosie a question, which the woman answered with an awkward, rather reluctant smile, her eyes darting from Mrs Yaoyorozu to her dress, smoothing her hands down and then up again. It was then that Rosie's eyes spotted Momo standing stiffly in the doorway.

"Ahh, Momo-sama! Your mother just came home." The spell was broken. The housemaid quickly turned back to the tray, picking it up as Mrs Yaoyorozu folded her arms, her regular, bland look back in place.

"Rosie, let me know if my husband is in the lab before leaving please. Do not disturb him, just come back and tell me."

"Yes Ma'am."Mrs Yaoyorozu watched as the maid left, more hurriedly than usual, towards the back door leading to the lab.

"Rosie was with her family last night." Momo said, her grip tight, knowing what her mother was thinking.

"Yes, I'm aware." Her mother was still staring at the back door. Momo leaned against the counter, silence dropping around them, both waiting for the other woman to come back. "What is that?"

Momo jumped at the sudden question. "H-hu- Oh." she leaned against the counter top, staring at the snacks in her hands. "I want to give these to Rosie."

"That is unnecessary."

"What?" the younger teen said. "I want to. It was her kids' birthdays last week, and I thought it would show respect-"

"Why would you respect her?" Her mother interrupted, with a sharpness Momo hadn't had directed at her for years. "Do you respect maids? People whose entire job depends on their ability to wipe tables?"

"She's still a person, Mother." Momo snapped back. Her mother's tone was something that would have intimidated her before, but she was older now. "It's a gesture I would make for anyone else, so I'm doing the same for her."

"There is an infallible barrier between employer and employee. It has been there for as long as humanity has existed, and is not about to fall with your petty idealism."

Momo didn't bother replying, biting her tongue, choosing instead to glare at her mother's back. A heavy, cold silence fell over the two Yaoyorozu women. Her mother was going through a lot, that much she knew, but she was tired of being understanding. Just once she'd like her mother to actually  _be_ one and show empathy herself. It was petty of  _her_ to be taking her frustration our on others.

Finally, after what felt like half an hour, the maid re-entered.

"He's there, Mrs Yaoyorozu."

"Thank you, Rosie." As said woman went to go get her coat and bag, the lawyer continued. "I heard it was your children's birthday last week."

Rose-Marie smiled, ever cheerful. "Yes Ma'am."

"How old are they now?"

"Five, Ma'am."

"How wonderful. I believe Momo has something she wishes to give to them."

Momo didn't move for a moment, her body solid in shock. Her mother was  _unbelievable._ The speed at which she had changed tune was disturbing. Not just that, but no one would ever tell just moments ago how insensitive her mother was being. Momo remaind silent long enough for her mother to shoot her a piercing look, and with a mental growl, the creation specialist handed over the small gift. Rosie thanked the young heroine, smiling softly, and Momo couldn't help reciprocate.

"Wishes to them from my side as well, Rosie." Mrs Yaoyorozu's voice chimed. "Take care."

The Yaoyorozu women silently watched as she left. The soft click of the door latching shut seemed to break the spell, and Momo slowly returned to her seat, waiting for her mother to say something. But she didn't, instead putting away the opening the fridge and taking out some juice for herself, as well as putting on a cup of coffee to brew.

"Mother." Yaoyorozu couldn't hold back any longer, forgetting the entire dispute over Rosie. Such things didn't get discussed in their household. Everyone's points were made clear, in the most persuasive way possible, and if no concensus was reached, it was never brought up again. In any case, the teen had far more pressing issues to discuss at the moment. "What happened last night, if you'd  _please._ "

At her daughter's voice, the older woman's head turned. She didn't reply immediately, gaze unfocused, taking a sip of juice. "I spoke with your father yesterday." She said eventually. Momo stared at her expectantly.

"He is indeed having an affair."

The room dropped several degrees just then, she was certain. Momo's gut plummeted uncomfortable and her heart jumped to her throat. All around her, the room spun, a blur of dark, subtle colors, and if she wasn't leaning so heavily on the counter, she would have fallen over. Her blood ran cold and she felt sick. "He told you that?" she breathed out, so softly she wasn't sure if her mother heard her.

"No. He denied it quite heftily." The older Yaoyorozu drained the glass and placed it in the sink. Then, for the first time since her mother had come home, she met Momo's gaze. "But I'm certain he was lying."

And when her mother said someone was lying, they were lying.

* * *

"You weren't in the training rooms yesterday."

Momo looked up from her book. It was the next morning. She was in her seat, and it was still before U.A.'s first bell.

Todoroki was stood, looming over her, standing between their desks, his gaze like a stormy sea; a petulant, cloudy grey with a tumultuous, deep blue. The muscles of his jaw kept bulging, like he was biting his tongue, holding back on some sort of torrent of words, possibly because he knew they would last too long for his regular speaking-only-when-necessary quota.

She looked away, not able to handle the half-n-half hero's intensity just then. "Yeah."

A pause.

"Iida says there wasn't a student council meeting either."

"There wasn't."

Silence.

"You appear to be healthy enough."

Again no response.

"Although you  _look_  awful."

A vessel throbbed visibly at her temple.

"And you're clearly not dead either-"

Momo slammed her book shut. "I went straight home yesterday, Todoroki." She said rather snappishly, crossing her arms tightly, refusing to look at him. It was a tone she had never used with him, and it increased her already pulsating headache to a steady throb. Just then, it didn't occur to her that he was asking where she was because  _he had noticed she wasn't there_  - something she had been agonizing about for quite a while the previous afternoon.

But just then, Momo was not in the mood to talk to anyone.

Especially not a fickle, fiery tempered pre-hero whose patience had clearly been worn thin.

Todoroki's stare had turned piercing, and a sudden onslaught of anger burst through his pores, making her skin crawl. Ah, so it was rage he'd been holding back.

The girl turned her chin the other way and she heard rather than saw him throw his bag roughly on his desk, scraping his chair as loudly as he could against the floor (his attempt at petty spite, she assumed), pulling it out from under the table and heavily collapsed onto it.

' _What an absolute_ child _',_  Momothought to herself with a scoff, simmering herself, his anger contagious. Her eyes were trained forward, barely noticing as the rest of the class milled about, waiting for homeroom to begin. Unseeingly, she watched as Bakugo rocked back and forth in his seat, mud-coated boots perched on the table top. Without hearing anything, she watched as Iida came up and began lecturing the sandy blonde about the etiquette of sitting. Her finger traced the rim of her book absently. Her every sense was fine tuned on the boy to her right, waiting for  _anything_ from him to dissect, interpret and hyper-analyze.

This was so unfair.  _He_ was being so unfair. None of this was her choice, and yet he was making  _her_ feel bad, like she had done wrong against him, like his bad mood was all her fault. As if everything he was feeling just then could have been prevented if she had only been considerate.

Her neighbor's moody aura spilled over her in waves and she internally huffed. Why was this boy so high maintenance?

They sat like that, in heavy, undulating silence, for a while; him leaning back heavily in his seat, arms folded sternly, radiating ' _Do Not Disturb'_  in all directions. Momo sat rigid, back straight, flipping idly through her book's pages, the picture of poise, betraying none of her inner turmoil and yet her eyes remained unmoving.

It was then that Aizawa came in and homeroom finally began.

Slowly, as her teacher's monotonous voice droned on about how 'he had been told to tell them this was still a school and just because they were becoming heroes didn't mean they should stop studying and let their brains rot', her anger started to subside. As the deep, baritones wafted through her brain unprocessed, like hypnosis, the harsh frustration left and the guilt started to kick in.

She imagined Todoroki, at 5pm yesterday, waiting for her and not knowing where she was, if she was coming back or not…he may have even waited there, by the doors, thinking she'd gone to the library. And obviously he couldn't go looking around the school for her either. She'd probably be just as mad if  _he'd_  done that to  _her_. In fact, she'd have  _definitely_ been mad. And letting him know wouldn't have taken more than a few minutes. Minutes she'd spent in grueling agony waiting for her mother to come home anyway.

The young heroine sighed.

When Aizawa finally stopped speaking (' _So please at least_ try _and score decently on the upcoming tests. Let the other teachers know I'm not running a zoo of gorillas_ '), and the class erupted into chatter waiting for the first class bell to ring, Momo swallowed her pride and turned to address the still-glowering teen next to her.

"I suppose…" she began. "Next time I'll let you know. Before leaving." Her voice was formal and clipped, but it was the best she could manage just then. She studied him out of the corner of her eye. Todoroki didn't say anything, eyes remaining closed, but the repellent aura had faded away, and she thought maybe his eyebrows weren't so harshly knit anymore, but he remained largely motionless. Seconds ticked by, and yet he remained silent.

Momo sighed. She probably deserved it anyway, and decided to just let it go. It was the best she could offer in her current state.

But just when she'd given up on him replying, he spoke. "That'd be helpful." He said rather gruffly. He wasn't smiling or looking at her, but his eyebrows had relaxed and the lines at the corners of his mouth had disappeared, and she decided that was the best he could do as well.

The young pre-hero managed a small smile at that. Good to know that even though it felt like someone had picked up the snow globe that was her life and dropped it after shaking it roughly, some things hadn't changed.

* * *

"Oy Jiro."

The girl in question turned, and the previously blase expression was wiped clean.

Kyoka blinked in surprise as she saw the ice specialist looking at her in the hallway. She looked to her left and right, certain she'd see someone else conveniently standing behind her also called Jiro, because surely the ice king himself wouldn't want to talk to  _her._ But the hallway was empty (which was surprising, considering Mina had been right next to her. That little deserter). The short girl turned fully, meeting his gaze full on.

She pointed at herself, as if confirming it was her he was talking to.

Todoroki nodded, crossing his arms, his eyes leveled, seemingly annoyed that this had already taken as long as it had. She made her way over to him, still dazed.

"I need you to fix Yaoyorozu." He said before she could get a word out.

She blinked. "Come again?"

"Yaoyorozu." He repeated. "Something's not right with her…" he drifted off here. Kyoka observed him as he stared off to the side. Now this was quite the development.

As far as she knew, him and Momo weren't especially close. In fact, their only solid interaction had probably been somewhere during the sports tournament. Although there  _had_  been that time with her broken nose. Not to mention how Kaminari claimed both elites were now sharing the training rooms after school. And then there were those pictures...

Scratch that, something was definitely going on between the two of them.

The earplug heroine smirked. This was getting interesting. Suddenly realizing she'd been quiet for quite a while, Kyoka looked up only to see his expression had turned livid in impatience.

"Oh?" was her airy reply, as if she was none the wiser. She had obviously realized something was off with Momo yesterday. It was practically stamped across her forehead in giant neon letters. Not once had the creation specialist smiled, or tried starting a conversation or intervened in their daily scuffle (Bakugo had once again picked yet another fight with Deku and yet, only Iida had arrived to the scene).

But for Todoroki, infamous lone wolf, to have noticed at all, and then bother so much as to come to call  _her_  out…

Definitely interesting.

"She's been exuding depression all day." He elaborated, slowly, trying to find the words to explain himself. "It's starting to drain my energy as well." Jiro held in a snort of laughter. Mismatched eyes snapped to hers, as if sensing her mental scoff. Needless to say, all nonsense was instantly wiped from her face, and she was at full attention.

"Well, why don't you try talking to her?" the small girl asked.

"I did."

That honestly surprised her. He had unfolded his hands only to stuff them into his pockets, staring off into the distance which lay beyond the hallway windows. It irked Kyoka to no end how she was unable to read his expression. In comparison to someone like Kaminari, who was as pathetically decipherable as an open book, Todoroki was an entirely different species.

For one, it made planning her course of action quite difficult. And if there was one thing Kyoka loved, it was being in control. Well, there was nothing more exposing than a person while flustered.

"Ahh." Kyoka sang. "You did something."

His eyes snapped back to onto the small, black-haired girl. "No, I didn't." His eyes swam with something she realized with a start were  _emotions. Irritation._ The young prodigy's gaze was piercing, and it suddenly dawned on her how much taller he was than her. It made her uncomfortable.

Jiro decided she hated being around him.

"Or at least, I don't think I did." And then he looked away again. For a moment, Kyoka stared, transfixed by the blatant display screening across his irises. There were so many feelings, so suddenly, that she didn't have the chance to recognize even one before Todoroki switched it off. When he turned back to look at her, his eyes were blank yet again.

"Just fix it."

And with that resonating command, he walked away, leaving Jiro still mulling through what had just happened.

* * *

"Yo, Momo." The vice president looked up from her lunch, watching as Jiro grabbed a seat, sliding it up to her desk. "So I know you've been giving off vibes to leave you alone, and I've been respecting that. But I just wanted to clarify; I'm here for you, a'ight?"

Momo gave her friend a look. "...Thanks."

The sound expert leaned forward. "And guess who else was worried." The taller girl offered a mild half-glance, as if she was only paying attention because she had nothing better to do, popping a bite of lunch into her mouth. "Shoto Todoroki."

Momo swallowed. "Oh?" she said, shooting her friend a leveled look, eyebrows drawn together and mouth pulled in a frown.

"I know right!"

"What makes you say that? Have you been speaking to Kaminari again?"

"Hey, I resent that!" the short-haired girl straightened up. "I come up with my gossip through actual fact! Mr Frosty came up to me  _himself_  and asked me to help you."

Instead of blushing or squealing or having any sort of  _normal_ reaction, Momo instead hunched over, frown intensifying. "He's still angry." She muttered, and scooped some more rice into her mouth.

"Dude," Jiro couldn't believe this. "I said 'worried' not 'angry.'"

"I highly doubt he said anything of the sort." Momo said aimlessly.

Jiro paused at this. It was true that the ice user hadn't specifically said the words 'I'm worried' but that was beside the point. "Well, just trust me, I know worried from pissed. And what do you mean 'still'?"

The creation specialist shot a highly nonplussed expression in Kyoka's direction, indicating that she'd greatly appreciate a topic change. But Kyoka simply stared at her expectantly, knowing that it was only a matter of time before Yaoyorozu relented. It was their thing, ranting about school and their peers. Of course, this meant that whatever Momo  _wasn't_  talking about was probably personal and family related. It also meant that telling Kyoka all about whatever had happened between Todoroki was fair game.

And sure enough, with a sigh Kyoka knew was more frustrated than what she felt, Momo put her box down. "He's upset because I didn't tell him I wasn't coming to the training rooms yesterday. He must have waited five extra minutes at the most." she was mumbling, something Kyoka had learned meant she didn't fully believe what she was saying. Momo glanced at the unoccupied seat next to them. "He needs to get over it."

"Oh,  _finally_  I hear about your after school shinanigans from the horse itself!" The creation specialist shot her a look at the less-than-flattering description. "Do you know how frustrating it is having Kaminari  _and_  Kirishima go on about how the bro-code is faultless, and how I might as well accept it, since I'd never get anything out of you, because girls were too occupied deciding who would go with who to the bathroom."

Momo gave her friend an incredulous look. "I know. Don't worry, I made sure the only thing either of them heard for the next two hours was a dull ringing."

"I didn't know my training was some sort of huge secret I was keeping." Momo said. "The only time I see Todoroki is when he kicks me out to lock up."

"That's not what the rest of the class thinks." Jiro said matter-of-factly, finally opening up her lunch as well.

"And what, pray-tell, does the class think?"

Kyoka took that as her cue to smirk. "That you two are hooking up."

For the first time, what would be considered a normal reaction flickered across the creation heroine's face. Her eyes widened, mouth parted ever so slightly, and then she looked down to stare, hard, at her half-finished lunch. She swallowed, and a delicate touch of color dusted her cheeks. After letting out a small breath, Momo closed her eyes.

"Everyone needs to focus on the more important things in life." She readied herself another bite with her chopsticks. "For instance, studying for the upcoming midterms."

"Oy, I have my life fully in order, thank you very much. It's just nice having a distraction from it sometimes. Besides, seeing our two rigid elites crushing on each other is-"

Momo shot her a tight-eyed glare at this. "That's  _not_  what this is." Jiro opened her mouth, but the black-haired girl cut her across. "I'm serious Kyoka. I'm not in the mood for baseless rumors right now."

The short hair girl dragged her chair closer and leaned over. "Baseless, eh? I wouldn't call  _these_  baseless." She pulled out her phone and held up a picture. "Taking a leisurely trip downtown doesn't quite count as  _baseless_  does it _?_ "

Momo snatched the phone out of her hand. It was a picture of her and Todoroki in the bus, her looking spaced out, while he was bent over, probably in the midst of signing something, so you couldn't see his face, although the signature hair erased any doubt.

"Where in the world did you get these?" she breathed.

"U.A. was tagged, as well as you two, so it automatically came up on my feed. Probably everyone else's as well." Jiro leaned back, arm draped lazily over the back rest, satisfied her detective work was having the right effect. "Scroll right, there's more."

There were, indeed, more pictures, from different angles, and even a video of her telling off that one irritating kid. Momo groaned, her head falling into her hands. "This is not what I need right now."

Jiro plucked her phone back from the vice president's limp hand. "Yeah well, forgive me if I don't sympathize all too much. I mean, last time I checked, we were on the same side, but then I learn from  _public trending topics_ that my closest U.A. bud is hanging out with Mr Hand-Off, and I know nothing. So I have no choice but to put a bunch of two's together."

"Kyoka-"

"I want to be on your side _,_ Momo. But you have to let me be."

Momo sighed. "I'm sorry. I really didn't mean to keep you out of the loop, believe me. I just forgot about it completely."

Jiro laughed at this. "Harsh. Poor Snow-King."

"A lot happened right after that," Momo said, indicating the pictures. "So it was kind of...pushed to the back, I suppose."

"Yeah, I can tell. So what's been bothering you, if not Todoroki? I'm all ears."

Momo gave a long, close-mouthed sigh. She began aimlessly playing with the food in her bowl, pushing the grains from one side to the other, lost in thought. "Thanks Kyouka." She finally managed. "It's just family stuff." Kyoka smiled slightly at being brushed aside. But it was expected. At the very least, she was glad she'd been able to read correctly assume it had been private issues keeping her friend silent. "I'm not mad so much as I am distracted. I'm sure I'll be fine soon."

"Family stuff can be rough." Kyoka said, taking her first bite. "I remember you mentioning your mom being seriously anal."

Momo let out a breath of laughter at that. "That's a way to put it I suppose." Her eyes acquired a distant, hollow look. "Although this time, it may not be her fault..."

She looked up to see Jiro looking at her, with an honest expression, all traces of teasing and jokes gone. It was a face that reflected an honest determination to listen and  _help._  Right then, at that moment, Momo realized just how good of a friend she had, and an honest, pure smile graced her lips for the first time in days.

"I'd tell you Kyoka, I would, but I'm not too sure myself what's going on." She reached over and squeezed her friend's hand, hoping her sincerity would follow through. "Once I do, I'll be dumping it all on you, so prepare yourself."

"Surprise attacks are what heroes need to be ready for, so don't you ever worry about the time or place." Jiro pulled out her hand and fisted it. "Kyoka Jiro is always ready for anything, especially for Momo Yaoyorozu-san." It took a few seconds where Kyoka had to give her several large hints and shake her fist a few times. But finally, Momo made a fist of her own and bumped it against her friend's, sharing a giggle.

They both resumed their lunch after that, and soon, the genuine smile began to simmer down as Momo imagined what exactly that conversation would entail. Would she be crying when she eventually talked to Jiro about this? Would her family be in shambles? Would some bloodthirsty reporter find out before they did? The squeeze over her heart was back, stronger than ever, and for a while, she wondered if she should just tell Kyoka everything right there, in the middle of a classroom full of gossip-hungry teens.

"So, Todoroki..." Kyoka's voice unknowingly cut through Momo's inner panic.  _"Do_  you like him?"

Momo had to swallow extra hard as her esophageal muscles froze up. "No!" she said loudly, after recovering from a bout of coughs. A few of the kids in class turned to shoot the two girls curious looks and both girls waved their glances away, Momo apologetically and Kyoka with a harsh glare, before the former turned back to her friend and gave a much quieter, but much more viscious, " _No._ "

Jiro gave her a narrowed, suspicious look.

"Oh my gosh, no Jiro! He's just a friend."

The calculating look continued. "Really? Because I swear, if I find out from  _someone else,_  or better yet  _online_ that you two have kissed or something-"

"Oh for crying out loud!" she said exasperatedly. "Does he honestly seem romantically available to you?"

Jiro shrugged. "I didn't think he was even able to hold a conversation. But you've opened up all sorts of doors, Momo."

Momo sighed. "I promise that if we ever make out, you'll be the first to know." She said, voice laden with sarcasm. The other girl leaned back, satisfied.

"Good enough for me."

Momo paused, a completely new problem coming to light. "You don't think this is why he's angry?"

"What, you guys kissing?"

She shot Jiro a pointed look. "The  _pictures._ "

Jiro scoffed. "If that's the reason, then he's a pussy."

Almost instantly, with freakish timing, Mineta (who had previously been on the opposite side of the room chatting it up with Aoyama, Oojiro and Toru) materialized out of thin air. "Did someone say pus-" Jiro sent him flying with a kick to his face.

"Freakshow." She muttered. The taller girl huffed and closed her eyes, taking another bite as response. Well, any possibility of bringing up her parents just then was thrown out the window. But perhaps that was a blessing in disguise. Such a private matter wasn't something she was really comfortable talking about, even if it was with Kyoka. Especially when it wasn't just the two of them.

"Oh, is Momo talking again?" a lively, pink moth-girl had appeared, drawing up a chair as well and seating herself down. "Finally!"

" _Where_ did you go after second period?" Kyoka wasted no time interrogating Ashido, as if she'd been waiting on the furry girl's arrival the entire time. "I had to go through a seriously intense conversation thanks to your  _abandoning me._ "

Mina scoffed. "That's exactly why I high-tailed it out of there. That guy gives me the chills."

Jiro gave her an unimpressed look. "Pun?"

"No! Aw man, I hadn't even noticed! Such a waste."

Momo watched the exchange with a raised eyebrow. "Are you talking about Todoroki?"

The bubbly pre-hero offered her an apologetic grin, rubbing the back of her head. "Oh, sorry Momo! No offense."

Just as the taller girl opened her mouth to retort, Jiro cut across. "Nah, apparently, she doesn't give two shits."

Momo sighed, just glad Kyoka was taking her side for once and resignedly joined the intense conversation about boys and how the modern generation lacked any foresight.

And for remainder of lunch, she forgot about her family entirely.

* * *

It was early that afternoon when Momo found herself at the front doors of the training rooms. The bell had just rung, and she hadn't changed into her gym clothes, choosing instead to just walk straight there. The school grounds were still noisy as kids hung around the main entryway, stalling to go home for those five extra minutes with their friends. The sun still hung bright, its rays now feeling quite intense, the telltale sign of the start of summer. And yet Momo didn't feel any of it, lost in thought.

She hadn't spoken to Todoroki since that morning. While that was nothing unusual, Momo felt especially nervous seeking him out, still feeling as if the air hadn't quite been cleared between them. He had accepted her (kind of) apology rather quickly. Regardless, as she had promised, her intention had been to catch Todoroki and let him know she'd be going home that day.

But now, standing there, she was thinking of maybe staying. It wasn't like she had anything to go home to; her mother had basically confirmed her fears yesterday (her stomach gave an angry jolt at the memory). It might even be therapeutic to pound out the resentment. Besides, she'd already taken a day off. And they did say the first day of a schedule broken is the start of the end.

However, when she tried the doors, they ended up locked. Odd.

"Yaoyorozu."

She turned at the mention of her name to see the very object of her thoughts walking towards her. To her mild surprise, Todoroki was also still in uniform.

""There you are.""

They blinked as they both spoke simultaneously. Todoroki gave a sharp exhale she assumed was a laugh through his nose and she allowed a smile to dawn her lips. The young heroine watched warily as he approached, feeling a weird jumble of nerves quiver in her abdomen, realizing she hadn't the slightest clue of what to say to him.

"This is getting tedious, Yaoyorozu." He said, walking the final steps between them. "Give me your number."

"Huh?" she blinked, rapidly. Had she heard correctly? But his gaze was steady and unblinking.

"Your number." He repeated slowly, nonplussed. "You have a phone, I assume? I could've been spared the last 15 minutes of walking over the school looking for you."

' _Oh_.' She thought, the idea of Todoroki bothering to seek her out not at all processing, and now added with him  _wanting her number_ succeeded in stopping the workings of her brain entirely.

As if sensing this, the boy held out his hand. "I'll do it, just hand me your phone." The assertive tone he took was almost calming and without a second thought, Momo pulled up her contact info on her screen and handed her phone to him, more than happy to have someone else do the thinking for a change.

"Wait," She finally said as her brain decided to catch up to reality. "Why were you looking for me? You didn't have to bother, I told you I'd let you know. I  _was_  going home again today, but…" she turned to look back at the training rooms. "I'm not sure anymore…"

Todoroki took a few seconds before he said anything as he copied down her information. "I added my details into your phone myself." He said, handing back her cell. She huffed. Presumptuous as always. "And no training today. I want to take you somewhere."

He began walking away, with the airs of someone who knew everything was right in the world; serenely, as if he hadn't just thrown her yet another curve ball. Momo recovered faster this time, though it still took a few moments to get over her surprise, and dimly wondered if someone had fried his brain overnight.

She rushed up to join him, a stream of questions pouring out of her mouth. "Wait, what? Where? You just randomly decided that? Why?"

He breathed deeply, looking up towards the sky as he did. "You took me somewhere that was special to you. I want to repay that favor."

That floored her.

Momo was speechless. Todoroki was an anomaly, an impromtu irregularity in a life that had previously made sense, from a life that had been calculated, whether that be the number of steps she walked to and from school to the number of pages she read a day. He boggled her mind, he messed with her stride, he effectively took anything she ever planned and crushed it without a second thought. The last she knew, he had been beyond angry at her. And if she knew anything about Todoroki, it was that he didn't really lose his temper, he just shoved it aside indifferently and carried on his way.

She blinked.

Wait, that  _was_  exactly what he was doing. There was no grudge, no residual animosity or frustration. He had approached her like it was any other day. She had spent so long worrying how she would fix things with him, adding on top of her already extensive cacophony of concerns, trying sorting out her thoughts, feeling like the world was collapsing. And yet, there  _he_  was, resident frozen prince with the personality to match, being...  _nice._

It was as if nothing had happened. It threw her off balance. She felt her throat clench uncomfortably.

It made her want to cry.

There were so many things Momo wanted to say to him just then, but words eluded her and she didn't know quite how to express the myriad of feelings she had swirling inside. She wanted to be left alone, and yet she wanted someone to talk to. She wanted to run away and let her world fall apart, and yet she wanted to stand and fix everything with her own two hands. She wanted to be with anyone but him, and yet being with him made her...happy. Such an extensive plethora of contradictions welled inside her and she was sure she would self-implode.

So she remained silent, hands gripping her bag strap, so tight her knuckles grew white.

The pair walked along in silence, him staring at the sky, expression of relaxed nothingness, eyes clear and gentle and open. And next to him, Momo, completely oblivious to such a rarity, staring intensely at the floor, a infinite loop of emotions clouding her eyes. The two recommendation students entered the throng leaving the school and the dense silence between them filled with the abrasive chatter of young teenagers.

It was after they left the campus, separating from the crowd and walking further away, that the silence crept back in like a shadowy cloud. It eclipsed over Momo's thoughts, and it rang louder and louder, buzzing at her brain incessantly and she felt watery pressure build behind her eyes.

' _Momo, you have to speak.'_  She begged herself, biting her lip so hard she was scared it would split, the silence tightening its grip around her chest. _'You must. Is this how you repay kindness? He'll regret it! He'll ignore you, he'll hate you! He'll-'_

"Yaoyorozu. Breathe."

His voice shot through her thoughts like a ball breaking glass.

Momo straightened on impulse and, before she could stop herself, stared at him. He returned her look with had an unmoving, blue eye, and suddenly, all she could think was about how beautiful a color it truly was. He continued, as if reading her thoughts. "I don't care if you aren't continuously blathering about something. Turn off your brain for once.

"Breathe."

And just like that, the pressure vanished.

* * *

"Here it is."

They had been walking for almost 15 minutes, in a gentle silence. It was surprisingly comfortable, once she'd stopped analyzing what he was thinking. He'd taken charge of conversation, surprising her yet again, passing a comment or two about a store he found useful in neighboring streets or a pedestrian with a rather flamboyant choice of hair color – not that he was one to speak, she'd pointed out, which had earned her an unamused glare.

Him starting the discussions for once, and telling her he didn't mind the odd silence, had calmed her in a way she didn't realize she'd needed. Without realizing, Momo had begun to think Todoroki only tolerated her presence because of her endless streams of facts. Him making the effort to converse, when he usually stayed quiet, meant more to her than he probably knew. It meant that, on some level, he wanted to keep her around just as much as she did with him.

It hit the young creation user how warm a conversation could be, even without incessant speech. All that was fine sometimes, and came easy to her, but on occasion, just slowing down and appreciating the bigger picture with another person could prove to be just as satisfying.

And that was something that blew her mind.

Momo looked up to read the board. 'Playtime Rentals', it said. Confused, but curious as to what this place was (the place  _Shoto Todoroki_ had recommended), she followed his lead as he pushed open the door, a quaint little bell jingling to alert the owners of their entrance.

"Ah, Todoroki-kun, it's been a while."

The Yaoyorozu heiress turned to see a rather pretty girl greeting him behind a counter, whom he acknowledged with a nod. She was flashing him a wide smile, almost too wide, and her gaze lingered just a few seconds too long. But she was pretty. So pretty that her slightly strange actions could be overlooked. So pretty, in fact, that everything that had happened in the span of two minutes condensed together in her brain into three words; pretty, girl, rentals.

Why would he bring her to a cabaret club? Had he no shame? Not that she minded ( _but she did_ ) how he spent his free time, but  _how_  Todoroki thought watching girls serve him tea would pay back any sort of favors he thought he owed her was beyond her.

"Yaoyorozu, back here."

At his voice, her head snapped from looking at a corridor full of doors to him. Her classmate had his hand on a doorknob and was halfway through it, pausing as he waited for her to follow. Momo felt her mouth go dry. Did he want her to go in with him,  _alone_? Just the two of them? And yet, despite her better judgement, her legs moved, and she followed him in.

And then blinked.

They were in what appeared to be a storage room, with shelves and a slightly messy pile of boxes in a corner and even more shelves. But what surprised her most about the room was that said shelves were lined with cages and cages of animals; cats and dogs, of all sizes, making gentle noises, rubbing against the bars, or playing with a roommate.

Momo walked in reserved awe up to a random cage, and crouched down, finding herself face to face with a tiny black pug. It immediately nuzzled itself into the bars as if to get out and play with her. She smiled and reached her hand over to pet it, but it immediately backed away. Momo stuffed her hand through the bars into the cage, trying to beckon it over, when suddenly, it pounced and began nibbling on her hand.

"Hey!" she cried, the pain only a dull clamping sensation, and reached in her other hand to give the puppy a rough noogie. It backed up again, its head rocking back and forth, staring between each hand not knowing which new toy to attack.

"That one's still teething." She heard Todoroki say. Momo watched as he pulled out a set of keys, and dangled the leather key chain to the little puppy instead. It instantly grabbed it, and began shaking it back and forth so hard its little head became a black blur. The neighboring cages started getting rowdy, clearly wanting themselves a loud, shiny toy as well.

"What is this place?" Momo breathed in utter curiosity.

"In essence, it's an animal shelter." He said. "They find stray animals, and then let people come in and choose one they think they'd like to adopt. They can adopt one straight away, or pay by the hour to spend time with the animal, and see if they're at all compatible."

"How in the world did you find this place?" she asked, amazed someone like him would ever think of spending any of his time here. She noticed he was intently avoiding her gaze, and it suddenly dawned on her just how personal this place was to him.

"My brother owns it." he explained.

"Ahh." That made more sense. "Wait, and your sister owns that calzone place. How many businesses does your family own?"

"Just the two."

' _Just.'_ "So that girl by the counter is…?"

"She's just a part-timer. She started work back in December."

They both grew quiet after that, Momo not quite sure what to say next, instead content on mindlessly watching the little dog continue to growl and grapple with the keys.

"Todoroki?" she asked, a thought occurring to her.

"Hm?" He had busied himself with a kitten one cage down.

"…Are those Aizawa sensei's keys to the training room?"

He froze, the only thing still moving the end of his uniform tie as the kitten pawed it. They exchanged glances before both turning to look at the keys, which were rattling incessantly, slobber spraying every which way from the blur that was the pug. They were silent for a while.

"Maybe he won't notice." Todoroki asked, the uncertainty giving his voice a certain innocence, and Momo couldn't help but burst into laughter. His lips twitched upwards despite himself.

"Um, excuse me, Todoroki-kun?" The pretty girl had come in. Momo felt her smile weaken. Why wasn't she surprised? "Can I speak to you for a second?" He looked at her expectantly, not moving.

"She means outside, genius." Momo said humorlessly. He blinked, eyes wide in realization.

"Oh."

He got up, and her eyes never left the little puppy. "Hey, can I open the cage?"

"Oh, please, don't do that." The girl appeared quite distressed at the suggestion. "The other animals get really agitated if you do."

"Oh, okay, sure, no problem. Sorry."

The girl didn't answer, and once Todoroki had left the room, the door clicked shut, leaving her alone with the animals. Momo sighed. She put her hand back into the cage. "Hey c'mon little guy, can I have the keys back?" she held her hand out expectantly, but all that led to was the puppy crouching over further, wagging its tail heftily, awaiting her next move.

She crouched low, lowering her head to its level, steadying her hand. Her and the dog stared each other down. And then she attacked, the puppy easily jumping over her outstretched hand, barking happily. "Oh come  _on!_ " she cried in frustration, trapping it in the corner and picking it up from under its belly, then swinging it around to grab the keys. That instigated a tug-of-war between her and the little canine hardly a foot long.

"You are...one…incredibly tenacious mutt…" she said. And then she had an idea.

She laughed to herself. "I am  _such_ an idiot. For goodness' sake." Her hand then began to glow, the telltale sign of her quirk, and the little puppy stood perfectly still for the first time since obtaining the keys. In fact, most of the animals had quietened down, as if hypnotized. She produced a small, simple, rubber toy, a bright, attractive blue, and held it up for the dog to see.

"Want this?"

It didn't need to be asked twice. Immediately, it dropped the keys and darted towards the little soft toy. Momo made it chase it for a little while, because nothing of value comes easy, before finally letting the puppy have it, and retrieved the keys as it was distractedly munching down on its newest prize.

"Oh, you got them back."

Perfect timing. Todoroki and the female manager had returned. Momo grinned in pride and jingled them for good measure.

"Can you try not to give them weird objects to chew on?" The girl directed her warning at Momo. "We don't know where they've been. They might get sick."

"I apologize," The half-n-half hero said, and Momo had to purse her lips in an attempt to stifle her snickers at the girl's contrite expression. Hadn't been expecting that little development, had she? Todoroki tentatively took the keys from Momo's hand, wincing at the slobber and tiny puncture holes. He turned back to the girl and spoke before she could say another word. "I'll be more careful."

"O-oh. Um..Yes, Thank you." Momo felt herself smirk as the girl tripped over her words. "W-well…please take your time." And she shut the door.

"Wooow, she  _really_ doesn't like me." Momo said.

"What makes you say that?" he said, wiping the keys on a random cloth lying around.

"What did she want to talk to you about?" she asked, dodging his question.

He pocketed the key-chain, deciding it was a lost cause. "She wanted to ask who you were. Not everyone is allowed back here, you know." Momo mentally rolling her eyes. For someone so smart, he really was clueless. She gave him a satisfied grin.

"Wha- no, no need for that satisfied look. In no way does this support your argument." He gave her a look.

"Of course it does. But for your satisfaction, I predict she'll come in again soon. Probably within the next 5 minutes. Maybe sooner, depending on how much she's actually into you."

"…Hah?"

Before he had a chance to interrogate her further, the door opened and the subject of her wager entered again. Todoroki immediately turned to shoot Momo his Todoroki-patented look (eyes wide and piercing, mouth barely ajar) and she bit her lip, struggling to suppress her laughter. The girl could clearly feel the intense way both teens were studying her, and (to Momo's utter delight) she suddenly appeared self-conscious. "Erm, Todoroki-kun," the girl spoke up. "Can I bring you and your friend something to drink?"

Momo was quite impressed at how stable the receptionist had kept her voice. Todoroki looked at Momo who shook her head with a smile. "No thank you." She said, almost too happily. The girl nodded rather sullenly, and then left again.

"Ohhhh my gosh, she's got it  _bad_." Momo said in a loud whisper.

Todoroki shot her a withering look, folding his arms. "Lucky guess. The real test is you predicting when she comes in next." He pointed out.

"Nah, she's not coming back."

"You're running away." He said.

"I am not. She won't, not after the warm welcome we gave her. But I bet we'll see her next when she's kicking us out. Probably 20-30 minutes later, when she can't tolerate you being alone in here with me any longer."

He scoffed. "You should become a story write with that imagination."

"Please. I could go on supporting myself, using points like how she refers to me as ' _your_  friend', how she doesn't speak directly to me, unless she's scolding me. I could go into the finer details as well, but you deny the obvious signs, so I think it'd be pointless."

"That's because this  _is_ pointless." He scratched a cat who was nestled up against the bars behind the ears. "And I'll have you know, she's two years older than me. Plus, if I remember correctly, my brother likes her."

Ignoring the slight twinge of irritation at him knowing any kind of detail about the part-timer, Momo continued. "Ohh a family love triangle." He shot her an impatient look which she responded to with a cheeky grin. "What's her name?"

"Mitsu…ha? Mitsu…ki- no wait, maybe it was Matsuha….?"

Momo erupted into laughter once again, any previous irritation evaporating at the sincerely stumped expression on his face. "Oh wow, now I actually feel bad for her! The poor thing." When she finally calmed down enough, she noticed he was looking at her with a strange expression and a barely visible smile on his face. "What?" she asked, wiping tears from her eyes, the grin still having not faded from her lips.

"Good to have you back." He said, almost warmly. Almost. He turned away from her, going to the next cage, leaving her gaping at his back.

' _Where had I gone?'_  she thought dazedly.

' _He was worried about you.'_

Jiro's words rang in her ears. She watched him go from cage to cage, giving each animal a pet, or just a look, as if it was his job to personally see to it that each of them were cared for. If people in class could see him now…

"Which one's your favorite?" she asked suddenly. He gave her another small smile, like he had a hidden secret, before walking to the back of the room and crouched down in front of a large cage nearest the window, looking almost abandoned, with its surrounding cages all empty.

"Him."

Momo walked over and looked inside. Stretched out lazily was a large, beautiful Angora cat, with a pristine white coat. As soon as Todoroki sat in front of it, it got up and started rubbing itself against the bars, as if beckoning to be petted. The half-n-half hero obliged, reaching out his hand to give it a thorough scratch, although he was hindered every now and then by the cat profusely giving him lick after lick.

It was probably the most love she had ever seen a cat give someone. With a start, she noticed that the feline also had brilliant, mismatched eyes, one blue, one brown. Momo didn't think she had ever seen Todoroki look so content.

"Why don't you take him home?" she asked him softly, not wanting to break whatever spell had been placed. But his eyes seemed to glaze over, flashing with something she couldn't read.

"I'd never do that to him." He said coldly. "Someday, when I have my own place, maybe."

It was a reaction the young heroine had learned to expect from him whenever the topic of his home was brought up, and she chose not to press further. She noticed a beagle in a neighboring cage, looking forlornly at them, big brown eyes droopy and pleading, clearly begging for attention. Momo breathed out a smile before complying, leaning up to give the little dog a rub.

"Can't believe I haven't asked this yet, seeing as this place practically screams for it, but; which one, cats or dogs?" she asked, turning to him with a grin, already sure she knew what his answer would be.

Sunlight was filtering in through the window next to him, lighting up his hair and his eyes, softening every harsh edge, giving him a warm, soft look. Suddenly, he looked much younger; like the 15 year old boy he actually was. And then both corners of his lips twitched, and he smiled that smile he had back in the shopping center, and Momo felt slightly light-headed.

"It'd be close, but cats." He said, and she had to think a bit to remember what she'd asked him. The angora had settled against his hand, just content on having him rub his back. "Let me guess. Dogs?"

"All the way." She said softly, turning back to her beagle. There fell a content, lazy silence over the room. With the animals now quieted down, Todoroki's gentle presence nearby and the warm, afternoon sunlight pouring in through the window, Momo felt like she could stay in that small room forever.

"Thank you for bringing me here, Todoroki." She breathed, so quietly, she felt maybe he didn't hear her.

"…You're welcome."

* * *

The part-timer came in later, 30 minutes having passed, just as Momo had predicted, telling them it was time to leave. The creation specialist shot Todoroki a smug look, which he ignored entirely. Mitsuha's or Mitsuki's mood seemed to marginally improve when she'd come in, seeing them quietly petting the animals, not saying a word to each other. She had clearly interpreted it as uncomfortable due to a lack of conversation.

"I think I'm going to tell my brother." Todoroki said, finally deciding Yaoyorozu's incessant self-pleased smirking had lasted long enough.

"What, that you want to go out with her?" she teased, cheeky grin on her face.

"No! To hurry up and confess." he snapped. He huffed, blowing some stray bangs out of his eyes. "And do I look like someone who takes random girls out to random places?" She gave him a pointed look, raising an eyebrow. He huffed and looked away. "This was different." He muttered.

Indeed it was. With a start, she realized she hadn't thought of her problems back home for the entire time she had been with him.

' _He was worried about you_.'

She could still hardly believe it, that  _he'd_ even think twice about someone like  _her._  But here he was, walking her to the nearest bus stop, after showing her a place that was clearly very special to him. All in an attempt to cheer her up. Like any good friend would. Or maybe it was just the afternoon sun getting to her.

"My parents fought."

Todoroki glanced at her out of the corner of his eye as she suddenly offered this information, breaking the silence that had once again settled over them like a cloud of dust. He turned his gaze forward, figuring she didn't need the additional pressure of having eyes on her, saying nothing, waiting for her to continue.

"Well, they've fought before, but this other day was different." She was clenching and unclenching her fist around her bag strap, like she'd been doing earlier as they'd left the school grounds. "My mother thinks my father has done….something horrible. She probably won't forgive him if he has." Momo frowned, blinking rapidly, feeling her throat tighten. "I know I won't."

Todoroki remained quiet.

They'd reached the bus stop. Yaoyorozu instantly sped up, walking over to the stop sign post and leaned heavily against it, the only object nearby offering support; it was the textbook subconscious action of someone who didn't want to be seen.

The surrounding area was quiet and empty, apart from the odd car that would drive past, the glow of the sun glinting off the nearby office buildings and throwing a dull glare on the sidewalk next to them. Todoroki waited for her to say something else, but she didn't.

"What does your father think?"

She blinked at his question. Her eyes widened. Then she turned to him, cheeks glowing as they did whenever her emotions spiked too high. Hope glittered brightly in her eyes. She stood straight, gripping the pole tightly as everything changed.

"I haven't asked him." Yaoyorozu breathed.

A bus appeared around the corner, its pistons hissing as it came to a stop.

"This one's yours, I believe." Todoroki said, watching the doors flap open. She walked towards it, but just before getting on, turned to look at him, her eyes soft and swirling with an emotion that churned up something deep inside. The same something that had simmered up the other day in the shopping district.

"Thank you, Todoroki."

And then she left, leaving him smiling gently, in a way that, he realized with a soft jolt, he was doing more and more often, recently. He watched the bus drive away, smile fading the further it got, and continued staring long after it had rounded the corner.

Finally, he turned around and began his walk home.

* * *

When Momo reached home, the first thing she did was make a beeline for her father's lab.

She couldn't believe she'd left this so one-way; her mother had spoken first and implanted the thought into her mind that  _she_ was the victim, and so Momo had automatically assumed it to be true, and yet, the first theory wasn't necessarily the right one.

The young heir walked through the swinging doors and made her way through the entry-way, scanning the room for her father. And there he was, sitting at the main desk, just as he always was. He motioned for her to wait a minute, as he was busy taking down what seemed like an order from a phone call. Momo waited patiently for him to finish, placing her bag on the counter and leaned against it, there being no other chair in the room.

Souma Yaoyorozu's lab wasn't the largest. He had a few machines, but that was it. His quirk was also that of Creation, although hers was slightly more advanced when regarding the necessity of her attention to detail. This meant his products were only those of pure material; he wasn't ever able to combine elements together or imagine the depth of the bonds to create something immediately usable. Instead he used his quirk to build a business to one of the best hero gadget firms in Japan.

Both of her parents were extremely driven, self-made people, doing what they loved. Even though they hardly saw each other, it had never bothered either of them before, how little attention one spared for the other, or that the other was so absorbed in their work.

Or at least, she hadn't thought it bothered them.

"Well, well, isn't this a rarity." Her father had put down the phone. "To what do I owe the surprise?"

"Dad," she decided to cut straight to the point. "Where were you two nights back? The night you weren't in your lab?"

Immediately, an expression almost like annoyance, flashed over his face, and it was one she had never seen her father use before. Especially not with her. For as harsh and rigid as her mother was with her, her father had always been the opposite, doting and loving, to the point of spoiling her (not that her mother had allowed her to get spoiled). He turned away from her and began messing with papers.

"What is it with the women in this house? What, a man can't leave to get a breath of fresh air? Why do you find it so important to be in control all the time? Is a change of scenery so hard to imagine?"

"No," Momo struggled to keep the hurt and shock out of her voice. "Dad, it's not." Her voice gave a pathetic wobble as she spoke, and she swallowed, desperate to remain strong. "That's why I'm asking you."

Mr Yaoyorozu looked over at her again, saw the hurt on her face and sighed. His features relaxed, and suddenly, he was father again. "I'm sorry Momo. Of course." He swiveled the chair he was on towards where she stood. "It's just that you look so much like your mother…"

She smiled sadly and looked down, fiddling with the stitching of her bag. She had an idea of what he meant by that…

"I went down to that new place that's opened up. With all the food stuff? I really felt a craving for some chocolate. And none of that gas station stuff, I wanted something high-end."

Momo looked up, eyes bright, throat tightening so hard she could barely breath, hope making her chest swell. "Really?"

He looked back at her, with his soft, gentle brown eyes, and smiled that smile that had always been her father's special one, reserved just for her. And then he pulled out a fancy, half-eaten, personal sized box of chocolates from his drawer and showed her. "Really." He said.

She let out a cry of happiness, and before she could stop herself, tears had started falling from her eyes. She clasped a hand to her mouth, muffling the sobs. The relief was so intense it shook her shoulders, and it was as if some massive weight had been lifted from her shoulders.

"Oh sweetheart," he reached over to wipe away her tears. Momo's happiness clouded her every thought, and she didn't notice the shadow that past over her father's eyes just then, or the slight dimming of his smile as he glanced back at the box of chocolates which hadn't even been opened yet.

"N-no, it's just," she laughed thickly. "Next time, can you get me some as well? I gave the last of my stuff to Rosie."

"I will." He handed her a tissue and laughed lightly. "Want to see what I've been working on recently?"

She nodded enthusiastically, following her father as he got up from his seat and made his way over to the nearest machine. She didn't know why she hadn't asked him from the start. He was her father, and he loved her and nothing would change that.

And suddenly, she felt such enormous gratitude for the boy who had helped her realize this in the first place. She could have hugged him just then, that was how happy she was. And the next time she'd see him would be Monday. If only there was a way to-

A thought flashed through her head and, unable to dim the smile on her face, she pulled out her phone. She pulled out the number, and typed her message to Todoroki.

" _I confronted my father.  
I think things are going to be okay."_

And that was it. She turned back to her father, who was in the middle of explaining how he'd made the device water proof as well as elastic. And it would only be later that she would see his reply, which he'd sent within two minutes of hers.

" _Glad to hear it."_

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Well done for making it all the way of the longest chapter yet!
> 
> A bit about Momo and her parents: I imagine Momo to be too trusting and quite innocent, taking whatever she's told from people she trusts at point blank, no questions asked. This by no means is the extent of the affair, but this event will remain a side-story and won't distract from the story, since after all, this fic is about Todoroki and Yaoyorozu, and I'd like to stay focused on that. All I'd like to do is visit how everything would affect these two, whether it be the affair, or anything else.
> 
> OKAY I'm done eating your brains out. Please drop a review and let me know what you think! It was quite heavy after all, so I'd really like to know how I handled it xP


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